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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First artificial meteor shower might outshine natural 'shooting stars'
[...] Tokyo-based ALE (for Astro Live Experiences) pitches itself as a pioneer in the "space entertainment sector." It hopes to conduct a groundbreaking artificial meteor event in 2020 using its first satellite over an area near Hiroshima, where it will be observable by up to 6 million people over an area 200 kilometers (124 miles) wide.
[...] "I hope that our man-made meteors will help reveal new discoveries in science, and that it will gather and entertain people under the night sky," CEO Lena Okajima said in a statement.
The satellite creates its sky show by firing off little pellets a centimeter in diameter that are made up of a proprietary mix of non-toxic materials. The "particles," as ALE calls them, are designed to generate a range of bright colors as they heat up and disintegrate during reentry into the atmosphere, all while still over 60 kilometers (37 miles) above our heads.
Related: Now, meteor shower on demand? Here is Japanese firm’s controversial plan for the ultra-rich
Previously: Company Will Create an "Artificial Meteor Shower" Over Hiroshima, Japan in 2019
Submitted via IRC for Sulla
Look up at the night sky in 2020 and you might see an ad for McDonald's floating among the stars. A startup is planning to use a constellation of tiny satellites to create glowing ads. The satellites would light up different messages for up to six minutes at a time at about 250 miles above Earth.
Also at Futurism.
Related: Company Will Create an "Artificial Meteor Shower" Over Hiroshima, Japan in 2019
Japanese Company Could Put "Billboard" on the Moon
Japanese Company ispace Plans Two Missions to the Moon
Another Highly Reflective Art Object Will be Launched Into Orbit in November
First Artificial Meteor Shower Might Outshine Nature
(Score: 4, Funny) by isostatic on Tuesday November 21 2017, @06:20PM
Manmade explosions over Hiroshima?
First time for everything I guess.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @06:20PM (2 children)
About 1000 miles west and slightly north.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday November 21 2017, @07:20PM (1 child)
"Artificial meteor shower over Pyongyang triggers massive fireworks all over Seoul"
What was that Pterry quote about people being eager to fight, and some random archduke just happening? Maybe we should stop pushing people to be on their toes. There isn't always going to be a smart Russian Colonel ready to doubt the launch warning.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday November 22 2017, @12:18AM
Trunpians (or Fartfaces as we call them in the UK) are very keen on war. When it's Seoul that get the brunt of it. They get to wave their MAGA willies while being protected by the grown ups.
(Score: 3, Informative) by black6host on Tuesday November 21 2017, @06:34PM
TFS (and TFA) should use the correct term "sleight of hand", not "slight of hand", if it is going to use the term at all. Personally, I don't think the author understands the expression.
(Score: 2, Funny) by marknmel on Tuesday November 21 2017, @07:13PM (1 child)
Make sure you don't watch, and stay clear of the Triffid farm.
There is nothing that can't be solved with one more layer of indirection.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 22 2017, @03:58AM
I never understood why they never bred triffids without stingers. Guess it was cheaper.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday November 21 2017, @07:20PM (2 children)
Not enough pollution down here, so lets start working on the Stratosphere and Mesosphere.
Quick, someone find a barn, and take these guys out behind it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:38PM (1 child)
Yup! Plus the fuel used to launch them: another way for humans to pollute/leave garbage EVERYWHERE THEY FRACKING GO???!?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 22 2017, @03:59AM
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 21 2017, @10:05PM (2 children)
I expect a launch from Vandenberg would work well - a suborbital trajectory over California with my reentry over the place of my birth, Spokane, Washington.
I'm just about to make a killing on BitCoin - all the Facebook ads promise this - so without a doubt I can pay for my custom funeral.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @09:49AM (1 child)
I hope you are properly hedged; if you have significant BTC assets.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday November 24 2017, @01:50AM
I'm going to buy ~$8000k total of BTC, LTC and ETH.
When I get my paycheck after the one I'm now expecting, around the middle of December, I'm going to put $6500 into an eTrade IRA then buy an S&P 500 index fund with it.
People over fifty can contribute the "Catch-Up Rate" to IRAs, but even if I do that until I'm 65, I really won't have enough money for my lavish lifestyle. While I'll persist with conservative IRA investments, I'm going to speculate with the money that doesn't go into the IRA.
It's not just going to be crypto, I'm planning to buy some TSLA because all the newsletters are pissing on it. Yes Tesla has some big problems but I'm confident they will overcome them.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @10:06PM
What's Japanese for "irony"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @11:12PM (2 children)
Things in orbit only "fall to Earth" in movies.
Unless there is some propellant they are not talking about.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Wednesday November 22 2017, @04:33AM (1 child)
Things in low Earth orbit eventually deorbit due to atmospheric drag. Including the ISS if it stopped correcting its orbit. So do want to argue that the ISS is not actually orbiting Earth?
The summary does imply there is a propellant of some kind being used to control them.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 22 2017, @09:47AM
The part that confused me: why would the (micro) satellite have to release the pay-load?
To return to Earth, each of the proprietary "pellets" would have to do their own station-keeping, like any other micro-sat.
(Score: 2) by captain_nifty on Wednesday November 22 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
This is surprisingly similar to proposed orbital kinetic energy weapons.
Something in orbit has a hell of a lot of kinetic energy, all that is needed is a good sized piece of metal that won't burn up completely pushed in the right direction to cause some pretty serious level of damage to a target on the surface.
These satellites would have all of the technology to accurate orient and fire their projectiles with relation to the ground, and if supplied with different pellets (different material or larger), would make an excellent weapon system.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday November 23 2017, @11:07AM
Something in orbit has a hell of a lot of kinetic energy
About 8000m/s. KE = 1/2 mv^2, so each 1kg has a 32MJ of energy (and a little gravitational energy), so a 1 tonne object has 32GJ. That's ignoring any energy lost in the atmosphere.
However a 15kT nuke that's previously been seen in has 63GJ of energy. Typical nuclear missiles are in the 1,000KT range (10x100kt warheads), about 4,200 GJ, or about 100 tons in orbit.
A Falcon Heavy is aiming for $2m/ton to LEO, so that's $200m for the same destructive force of a nuclear missile. Building a new nuke is in the $20m range [ucsusa.org], 1/10th the price of the theoretical Falcon Heavy launch cost (or 1/100th of the general price)
But yes, as price to orbit keeps falling, it lowers the price to massive destruction, and that's a problem.