Man Made Meteor Shower

Japanese startup wants to create a man-made meteor shower for the 2020 Olympics.

15:28 20 May 2016

Japan intends to make 2020 Olympics’ opening ceremony bit more memorable. Star-ALE, a Japanese start-up company, is in the process of designing an artificial meteor shower that could be seen over Tokyo during the games.

 

In its website, the company said:

 

'A natural shooting star occurs when a particle in space, with a size of a few millimeters, enters the atmosphere and burns brightly through a process called plasma emission.’

 

'Our goal is to artificially recreate this process.'

 

The plan involves sending a microsatellite into space that is loaded with up to 10,000 combustible pellets made from various metals and elements that burn in different colours. They will ignite at an altitude between 35 to 50 miles above Earth.

 

'In the 'Sky Canvas Project,' numerous source particles can be continuously emitted, which allows us to create not only a single shooting star, but a real meteor shower,' Star-ALE says. 

 

The company added: 'In a laboratory setting, our artificial shooting stars have already achieved an apparent magnitude of -1,'

 

'Even Sirius, the brightest star that can be observed in the night sky, has an apparent magnitude of -1.5. 

 

'There's no doubt that artificial shooting stars by ALE can clearly be seen anywhere, even in the city.'  

 

Each pellet costs just over $8,000 to manufacture.