人造月亮

陳傳光

人類從古代開始就不斷地探索月球，月球的秘密就算到現在也還沒有完全解開。科學家們由月球和月光想到了一個新的計劃，那就是發(fā)射人造月亮。如果成功的話，能為地球節(jié)省大量的電能消耗。讓我們一起了解一下人造月亮吧！

China is planning to launch2 its own artificial moon by 2020 to replace streetlights and lower electricity costs in urban areas. Chengdu is one of the most famous urban areas in China. Scientists are doing an experimental project there. Now they have made great progress. They say the artificial moon will help light up the skies as far as 50 miles around.

The so-called lighting satellite plans to serve Chengdu in 2020. It is designed to be eight times as bright as the real moon， to give a “dusk-like light” over the place. Officials have shown few details on the project， but say the idea pulls inspiration3 from a French artist.

The artificial moon will serve as the real moon to make Chengdus night skies brighter when it is launched in 2020， possibly working as a replacement to traditional streetlights. It can be controlled to light up an area between 10 and 80 kilometers wide.

Although it might sound impossible， the experts say the technology has been in use for years and has now matured4 toward readiness5. However， whether the plan will finally be completed remains to be seen.

Chengdus artificial moon has already been met with criticism6 from worried citizens who think that the light will have bad effects on animals and astronomical7 observation.

It is not the first time that humans have tried to launch a light-reflecting object into the sky， but in the past， such plans largely ended in failure. It is reported that Russian scientists used giant mirrors to reflect light from space in an experimental project in the 1990s， but they failed at last.

中國計劃在2020年發(fā)射自己的人造月亮，以取代路燈，降低城市地區(qū)的電力成本。成都是中國最著名的城市之一?？茖W家們正在那里做一個實驗項目?，F在他們取得了很大的進步。他們說人造月亮將幫助照亮50英里范圍的天空。

所說的照明衛(wèi)星計劃在2020年為成都服務。它的設計亮度是真正的月亮的八倍，給這個地方一個“黃昏般的光”。官員們對這個項目的細節(jié)說明得很少，但說這個想法是從一位法國藝術家那里得到靈感的。

在2020年發(fā)射時，人造月亮將作為真正的月亮，使成都的夜空更加明亮，可能取代傳統(tǒng)的路燈。它可以控制照亮10到80公里寬的區(qū)域。

雖然這聽起來不可能，但專家們說，這項技術已經投入使用多年，現在已經成熟到準備就緒的程度。然而，該計劃最終是否完成仍有待觀察。

成都的人造月亮已經受到了憂心忡忡的市民的批評，他們認為光會對動物和天文觀測產生不良影響。

這不是人類第一次嘗試將反射光的物體發(fā)射到天空中，但在過去，這樣的計劃大多以失敗告終。據報道，俄羅斯科學家在20世紀90年代的一個實驗項目中使用巨型反射鏡反射來自太空的光線，但最終失敗了。