A Japanese company is about to launch a satellite that's the first step toward creating the world's first artificial meteor shower. The news: The satellite is hitching a ride on the Japanese space agency’s Epsilon Rocket, due to launch at 9:50 a.m. Japan time on Thursday (7:50 p.m. tonight EST), along with six others. Tokyo-based firm Astro Live Experiences (ALE) has been developing it for seven years and will use this launch as an experiment to gather data to help develop the product further. How it works: The satellite releases centimeter-sized pellets designed to create an array of bright colors as they heat up and disintegrate when they reenter our atmosphere, over 37 miles above the ground. ALE claims the display will last longer than a natural meteor shower and will be bright enough to be visible even over areas with heavy light pollution. Spectacular view: Ultimately, ALE hopes to create an artificial meteor shower over Hiroshima next year, where it will be visible for up to six million people within a 124-mile (200-kilometer) radius.
Astro Live Experiences (ALE) is launching a satellite intended to help create the first ever artificial meteor shower next year over Hiroshima, which will be visible over a 200 km radius. The Japanese company has been working on it for seven years, and has used the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Epsilon Rocket to help take it up to gather further required data. Ultimately, ALE’s satellite should release centimetre-sized pellets that will produce a variety of bright colours as they heat up then disintegrate re-entering the atmosphere. ALE believes it will be visible even in light-pollution heavy areas.