China Launching an Artificial Moon

[mixail.BTC]

Some people are worried about global warming... China is trying to reflect more sunlight onto the planet at night... brilliant

I think the reflected light will not have a significant impact on teperatury. Yes, and with a sufficient amount of reflected natural light, you can save on electricity.

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[Goodvalony]

Africa needs such technology. we have the Money. China should run such a test project like that in Africa.  Natural source of energy has been our surviving Hope down here.

[Blackstar015]

Interesting! Would this moon capable of giving lights all over the world?

[SnowAugustine]

China most probably did not even consider other creatures into consideration when they made this decision to do this. Not everyone sleeps at night. Not everyone sleeps in the morning. There are animals who thrive in the darkness. Humans being self-centered and selfish as usual.

[Emily_Davis]

Crazy times, indeed. Unless this artificial moon will shine only in China, I don't think it's such a good idea. Plus, of all the things they could spend they AI funds on, they chose an artificial moon? What were they thinking?

[coin8coin8]

Crazy times, indeed. Unless this artificial moon will shine only in China, I don't think it's such a good idea. Plus, of all the things they could spend they AI funds on, they chose an artificial moon? What were they thinking?

In fact, this technology is of little use to real life. I think China is doing this to show the world its space technology. Similarly, their ambitious moon landing plan is also for this purpose.
Of course, if China finds some kind of resources on the moon, things will get interesting.
As far as I know, there are abundant iron ore and strontium-rich soil on the moon. this may be their purpose of exploring the moon.
Although I am against the use of the moon's resources, maybe one day we have to use them.

[LickKing]

I mean, it's still a crazy idea, but not quite as crazy as one might expect for something conceived of by a Bond villain.

What about a giant magnifying glass instead of a mirror?  They could aim it at people and burn them like ants or aim them at solar panels!

If there is such a weapon, I think it might be stupid because you only need a mirror to reflect its energy and destroy it with reflected light.

You are very smart. This is just a scientific contribution made by a certain country to human beings. Only those who are inferior to the inferior will think that this is a weapon and maliciously create the Chinese threat theory. This is obviously done by the Americans. The United States is aware of its decline and the rise of the East, but no one can stop it. Be aware that the East has more influence on the world. There are many powerful countries here. Japan, Russia, China, Vietnam.

[Luke_Turner]

Astronomy Magazine recently published a post why this artificial moon wouldn't work, and one of the biggest challenges that it poses is that it wouldn't be able to stay in place. Also, China has to consider whether people do want it or not, plus, it might have an effect on nocturnal animals. Did China ever consider that? With a budget solely for AI like China has, you'd think they'll come up with something worthwhile. I don't think this is it. Plus, what if it backfired? I'm not ready to live down the movie Geostorm.

[o_e_l_e_o]

New details have emerged: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/10/why-chinas-artificial-moon-probably-wont-work

First of all, it's not "China" as in the Chinese Government or the China National Space Administration, but one random Chinese researcher. Also, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas has confirmed my initial post: it's simply not possible. An orbit at 300miles moves far too fast to light up a city for any appreciable length of time, and a geosynchronous orbit is too far away to light up anything.

[Foxpup]

Also, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas has confirmed my initial post: it's simply not possible. An orbit at 300miles moves far too fast to light up a city for any appreciable length of time, and a geosynchronous orbit is too far away to light up anything.

Thanks for that, it's been a while since I've heard such nonsense from a professor of hard science.

The article I read implied you could hover a satellite over a particular city, which of course is not possible.

I'd very much like to see this article. No article I've read on the subject says any such thing.

At a distance of just 300 miles the moon would whip around the Earth at thousands of miles per hour, beaming its light on any one place for only a fraction of a second.

Yeah, that's why the Hubble telescope pictures were all blurry until they realised how easy it is to adjust the satellite's rotation speed to track a moving target.

[custard7]

I'm only opposed to the artificial aspect of this moon. I want to launch an all-natural, non-GMO, organic, locally sourced, whole-motherfriggen-wheat Moon. It's just wrong to launch that kind of chem-trail leaking piece of plastic. Think of the children.

[Christopher_Hayes]

Crazy times indeed. What was China thinking? I'm curious to know how they think we need a second, artificial moon. They've got big budget for AI, why not use it to prevent global warming? Or clean the ocean? Crazy times, indeed.