China is on it again as it moves to launch a world-first man-made moon produced to replace streetlamps and lower electricity costs in urban areas, state media reported Friday.
According to Tian Fu New Area Science Society, the organization responsible for the project, the moon will launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, with three more to follow in 2022 if the first test goes well.
Head of Tian Fu New Area Science Society, Wu Chunfeng, told China Daily that though the first launch will be experimental, the 2022 satellites “will be the real deal with great civic and commercial potential.”
By reflecting light from the sun, the satellites could replace streetlamps in urban areas, saving an estimated 1.2 billion yuan ($170 million) a year in electricity costs for Chengdu, if the man-made moons illuminate an area of 50 square kilometers.
The extraterrestrial source of light could also help rescue efforts in disaster zones during blackouts, he added.
As China’s space program races to catch up with that of the United States and Russia, a number of ambitious projects are in the pipeline, including the Chang’e-4 lunar probe — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — which aims to launch later this year. If it succeeds, it will be the first rover to explore the “dark side” of the moon.
China is not the first country to try beaming sunlight back to Earth. In the 1990s, Russian scientists reportedly used giant mirrors to reflect light from space in an experimental project called Znamya or Banner.
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