[Condoms]

In a move that sounds straight out of a sci-fi paperback, China is planning to launch the first artificial ‘moon’ into orbit in order to replace street lights and reduce energy costs.

Chinese scientists say the man-made moon, which is essentially an illuminated satellite, will be in orbit by 2020. It will be eight times brighter than Earth’s moon and will shine down on the city of Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Sichuan province.

It’s hoped the innovation will replace the need for streetlights and will reduce annual electricity costs by up to 1.2 billion yuan ($173 million).

Residents shouldn’t worry that it will “light up the entire night sky,” Wu Chunfeng, chief of the Tian Fu New Area Science Society, said to China Daily. “Its expected brightness, in the eyes of humans, is around one-fifth of normal streetlights,” he said, adding that it could even assist emergency services during blackouts and natural disasters.

The ‘moon’ will only illuminate a 50-square-kilometer area, as it’s much closer to Earth than our real moon. It will sit about 500km (310 miles) away, compared to the moon’s 380,000km (236,000 miles).

If the project proves successful, China plans to launch three more moons around the country by 2022. “The first moon will be mostly experimental, but the three moons in 2022 will be the real deal with great civic and commercial potential,” Wu said.

Before it makes its city debut, however, the moon will have to be tested in an uninhabited desert so that its light beams don’t interfere with people or Earth-based space observation equipment.

There is numerous news stories about this on Google.. But this one can be found on RT: https://www.rt.com/news/441766-china-man-made-moon/

[lBotnet]

Very interesting read. I wonder if it will actually work.

[Rsynced]

What happens when it falls out of orbit? This is insane.With all the problems in China, they spend money of a fake moon.

EDIT: I think this is fake news.

[Agent Shark]

What happens when it falls out of orbit? This is insane.With all the problems in China, they spend money of a fake moon.

EDIT: I think this is fake news.

I wonder what the chemicals and products inside the fake moon. If it crashed into orbit, I wonder how that'll effect wildlife (both Marine and land life).

[Neta]

Fake news? Surely they can't actually do this? It could go wrong in so many ways.

[Swip3r]

Its not fake news

http://time.com/5429288/china-chengdu-artificial-moon/

This should be interesting if it happens.

[Prepper]

I find this very interesting and actually want to see how this turns out. Hopefully it doesn't become more space junk

[XPLADOT]

Mindblowing. How big will this fake moon be? Article did not say that unless I missed it.

[Crypt]

This is going to be exciting to see.

[LaFerrari]

And they plan to have three fake moons in orbit by 2022..

[lBotnet]

If it does fall out of orbit, maybe it will hit the idiot who thought up the idea. 🤣

[Condoms]

And they plan to have three fake moons in orbit by 2022..

I wonder how we all will sleep at this rate... It will be bright as can be, and be like day during the night.

[McDolands]

Chinks don't surprise me at all anymore at this point

[Punisher]

Mindblowing. How big will this fake moon be? Article did not say that unless I missed it.

The size of a large satellite with mirrors that catch the sunlight from the sun and reflect it back towards the ground.

I'm more worried about this being used as a weapon.. rearch some solar farms that use mirrors to heat up these columns that convert the heat into energy.. birds that go near that area burst into flames and die.

What if china includes features like a giant magnifying lens that can concentrate the reflected sunlight into a beam that they could point virtually anywhere and vaporize whatever they want..

[Abruptum]

The size of a large satellite with mirrors that catch the sunlight from the sun and reflect it back towards the ground.

I'm more worried about this being used as a weapon.. rearch some solar farms that use mirrors to heat up these columns that convert the heat into energy.. birds that go near that area burst into flames and die.

What if china includes features like a giant magnifying lens that can concentrate the reflected sunlight into a beam that they could point virtually anywhere and vaporize whatever they want..

I hopefully think that we are far away from such a dystopian future, the cost will be enorm to send such a satellite into the space.
But even when they can create some sort of heat reflecting weapon it should not only affect the targeted country/city due the fact that it will fuck up the whole atmosphere when something like that had the power to pass to the earth ground.

So even if they can get it into the orbit they only can use it once ;D snap whole population dead --- cool