A different kind of light show will likely be brightening the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: An artificial meteor shower. At least, that is what Japanese research company ALE Co. (aka Star-ALE) is proposing.
It has developed a 'Sky Canvas,' an artificially created shooting star spectacle. With this, the company claims that we would be able to see hundreds of tiny coloured fireballs raining down over the host city...which sounds a little dangerous, to be honest. According to industrial design site Core 77, the next-level pyrotechnics is expected to be viewable from up to 100 kilometres (62 miles) away from the city.
To do this, ALE CO. will "artificially recreate" the process of natural shooting stars by sending up a satellite into orbit carrying a payload of between 500 to 1,000 specialized pellets called "source particles."
Then, like a baseball pitching machine, the satellite will begin spitting out the source particles to put on a show.
However, the price tag isn't cheap. Each combustible pellet comes in at about USD $8,100 to produce, and that's not including the costs involved in actually launching the Sky Canvas satellite. In total? It will cost more than $8.1-million.
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