China to launch artificial 'moon' into orbit to light up city

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China’s obsession with making the ‘B’ copies of ‘A’ class products has crossed all the limits as the country has announced to launch a fake moon into space that it hopes will illuminate one of the country's biggest cities.

Officials in Chengdu, a city of 14 million people in China's southwestern province of Sichuan, announced plans to place a satellite in orbit by 2020 capable of reflecting sunlight onto its streets at night, claiming it will be bright enough to entirely replace street lights.  


The satellite would use a reflective coating to direct light to illuminate an area on earth of up to 50 square miles, according to Wu Chunfeng, chairman of the city’s Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute. 

The artificial moon, which has been undergoing testing for several years, will produce at least eight times more light than the real moon.

Scientists have warned the device could disturb wildlife and disrupt systems that observe the earth’s atmosphere.

However, Kang Weimin, a director at the School of Aerospace at the Harbin Institute of Technology, told CIFNewsthat the satellite will produce a dusk-like glow, meaning it will not affect animals.

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