A report inBuzzFeedon Sunday , March 25 , say a Japanese start - up want to start selling unreal meteoroid showers for a mellow cost .
We first heard about the company , called Astro Live Experience ( ALE),back in 2016 . They said they require to launch lowly spacecraft thatrelease pelletsthat bite up in the atmosphere and produce flash of light like meteor .
With hundreds of pellets on dining table , the caller said they could use different elements to make the meteors appear different colour . Lithium would be pinkish , for illustration , while copper would be green .
The party had said they wanted to develop the project , known asSky Canvas , in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics . But now it looks like they ’re targeting commercial space instead .
“ ALE is building two little microsatellites , the first schedule for launch from Japan in December , ” said BuzzFeed . “ Each 150 - pound , $ 3 million spacecraft will deport 300 to 400 shoot down star particles and have enough propellant to last 27 months in orbit before burn up in the atmosphere . ”
The satellites would orb at a height of about 350 kilometers ( 220 stat mi ) , below the orbital height of the International Space Station ( ISS ) , and deploy up to 20 pebble at a meter . Each presentation would last for a few seconds .
The idea is that a fleet of three to six satellite could drive home their “ shooting headliner ” anywhere on Earth at determined time in the evening , like a fireworks presentation . ALE has n’t foretell how much it would cost to corrupt one of these display , but antecedently it ’s been suggested that each pellet costs$8,000 . So 20 pellets would be $ 160,000 .
Given the pettifoggery around contrived satellites designed to reflect spark and be seeable on the ground , like theHumanity Star , stargazer in all probability wo n’t be too happy about this idea . Still , the short displays hopefully would n’t have too much drama .
“ These day people are usually looking down at their smartphones . I want to make the great unwashed seem upwards again , ” Lena Okajima , CEO of ALE , toldJapan Todaylast yr .
The launching this year has purportedly been approved by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) , while ALE has also consulted with other agencies including NASA and ESA . It ’s not clear yet what rocket they ’ll be launch on afterwards this yr and whether this is a image spacecraft , but we have take ALE for clearing and will update this clause if we hear back .
