A Japan-based startup is looking to create artificial meteors on demand, with the help of a micro satellite and secret-formula space pellets.
Space technology venture ALE, led by CEO and astronomy PhD Lena Okajima, wants to create dazzling shooting stars that would rival the real thing, in collaboration with scientists and engineers at several Tokyo universities.
The researchers claim via Phys.org that they are in the process of developing a short-lived miniature satellite -- measuring around 20 inches -- that will orbit the Earth and eject dozens of pellets. These tiny chemical balls, around an inch in diameter, will then race across the sky at a speed of around 5 miles per second, creating a celestial light show as they crash through the atmosphere.
The shower of stars are expected to burn brightly for at least a few seconds before fizzling out, and it's hoped that the chemical formula -- which ALE is keeping a tightly held, and thus impossible to scrutiny or verify, secret -- can be tweaked to create an eye-catching array of colour combinations.
Tests of the space pellets carried out by Shinsuke Abe, associate professor of aerospace engineering at Nihon University, revealed that their evanescence would be clearly visible even in Tokyo's light-polluted sky -- although Okajima explained that such displays could be postponed up to 100 minutes before the scheduled launch if bad weather threatens to dampen the view.
Although the project seems primarily designed as entertainment, perhaps creating meteor launches to mark large events and celebrations, it also offers the chance to glimpse parts of the atmosphere about which little is currently known.
The shooting stars will burst around 60 kilometres in the air: too high for balloons, and too low for spacecraft to venture. This means close analysis of the man-made meteors' light and trails would reveal the density and temperature of the atmosphere, and could even be used to shed light on the composition of space-made meteors.
However, there are some downsides. Firstly, although the meteors are fast, they're nowhere near as rapid-moving as their natural counterparts, which can hurtle through space at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per second. The shooting stars also come with a hefty price tag: around a million yen ($8,100, or about £5,145) per meteor.
ALE said it has been talking with "individual investors" to fund the project. Okajima commented: "We believe there are people who would be ready to put up money for supporting 'a world first' event that is also meaningful scientifically."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
