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posted by janrinok on Tuesday November 21 2017, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the oooh-aaaah! dept.

Stuff will be flown into space for the purpose of burning it so people can look at it:

Meteor showers are an awe-inspiring sight, and skywatchers often plan well in advance for their shot at spotting shooting stars as they rain down from the heavens. The rare events have, up until now, been a totally natural phenomenon, but one company is planning on turning on-demand meteor showers into big business, and it's scheduled its first man-made shooting star showcase for early 2019.

The company, called ALE, has created a spectacle it calls Sky Canvas, and it's as close to controlled meteor showers as we may ever get. What makes it so interesting is that this isn't some kind of slight of hand or illusion, but actual material dropped from special satellites burning up in the atmosphere to produce a brilliant light show overhead. It's wild, wild stuff.

The cube-shaped satellites that control ALE's Sky Canvas are tiny — less than two feet on each side — but they carry the proprietary pellets that create the "shooting stars" and can be controlled remotely from the ground. On command, the satellites release their payload, which then falls to Earth and, after coming into contact with the intense friction of the atmosphere, ignite.

Manmade explosions over Hiroshima?


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday November 21 2017, @07:20PM (2 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday November 21 2017, @07:20PM (#599799) Journal

    Not enough pollution down here, so lets start working on the Stratosphere and Mesosphere.

    Due to the lack of vertical convection in the stratosphere, materials that get into the stratosphere can stay there for long times. Such is the case for the ozone-destroying chemicals called CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). Large volcanic eruptions and major meteorite impacts can fling aerosol particles up into the stratosphere where they may linger for months or years.

    Quick, someone find a barn, and take these guys out behind it.

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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:38PM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:38PM (#599862) Journal

    Yup! Plus the fuel used to launch them: another way for humans to pollute/leave garbage EVERYWHERE THEY FRACKING GO???!?

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    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 22 2017, @03:59AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 22 2017, @03:59AM (#600035) Journal
      The environmental version of original sin.