China wants to replace street lighting with three satellites

Some of the plans of Chinese leaders seem downright absurd, but it is precisely such ideas in the past that have finally turned out to be successful. Not always, of course, but quite often. This time, China wants to replace street lighting with three satellites.

While one moon is enough for us, the governors of the Chinese city of Chengdu want four and are willing to spend a lot of money on it. The whole plan is to place three small, but highly reflecting satellites around 2020. These satellites are supposed to reflect light at night from the sun, because, as you probably know, the moon “shines” thanks to the sun’s rays. Forgive me for such a prosaic explanation, but nowadays such topics need to be approached really carefully. Artificial moons are to exceed the natural one, because they will reflect light eight times better.

This is enough to brighten the streets of Chengdu without spending the budget on electric lighting. Such a plan (if it works) could save the city as much as $ 250 million annually. So this is enough to justify the cost of the satellites. The plan includes three satellites, but only one of them is to provide light at the same time. I am not a specialist in astronomy, although it seems to me that it is caused by the very movement of objects in orbit. One satellite is to be sufficient at least to illuminate the city center, although in favorable conditions it can cope with the entire metropolitan area. They will also enable lighting of areas such as villages or places of natural disasters. I wonder what the inhabitants of the city in which daytime will reign all the time.

Also read: Scientists want to make holes in the clouds

Source: Popularmechanics
Photos: Popularmechanics