人造月亮

陈传光

人类从古代开始就不断地探索月球，月球的秘密就算到现在也还没有完全解开。科学家们由月球和月光想到了一个新的计划，那就是发射人造月亮。如果成功的话，能为地球节省大量的电能消耗。让我们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.

中国计划在2020年发射自己的人造月亮，以取代路灯，降低城市地区的电力成本。成都是中国最著名的城市之一。科学家们正在那里做一个实验项目。现在他们取得了很大的进步。他们说人造月亮将帮助照亮50英里范围的天空。

所说的照明卫星计划在2020年为成都服务。它的设计亮度是真正的月亮的八倍，给这个地方一个“黄昏般的光”。官员们对这个项目的细节说明得很少，但说这个想法是从一位法国艺术家那里得到灵感的。

在2020年发射时，人造月亮将作为真正的月亮，使成都的夜空更加明亮，可能取代傳统的路灯。它可以控制照亮10到80公里宽的区域。

虽然这听起来不可能，但专家们说，这项技术已经投入使用多年，现在已经成熟到准备就绪的程度。然而，该计划最终是否完成仍有待观察。

成都的人造月亮已经受到了忧心忡忡的市民的批评，他们认为光会对动物和天文观测产生不良影响。

这不是人类第一次尝试将反射光的物体发射到天空中，但在过去，这样的计划大多以失败告终。据报道，俄罗斯科学家在20世纪90年代的一个实验项目中使用巨型反射镜反射来自太空的光线，但最终失败了。