The Sky Canvas Project from the ALE company seeks to launch a satellite carrying up to 1,000 particles, at approximately $9,620 each, which will be released into space to recreate the process of a shooting star. When naturally occurring, tiny particles less than an inch long enter the atmosphere and create a bright trail as they burn.
"As one learns in high school science classes, when a substance burns, the flame emits a specific color; this is called the flame reaction," the ALE website details. "By loading our satellite with various materials, we are able to turn our shooting stars into any color."
Their hope is to create the shooting stars in a variety of colors, using copper for green, barium for blue, as well as potassium, rubidium and cesium to create various shades of purple, Space.com reports.
"The particles will travel about one-third of the way around the Earth and enter the atmosphere," ALE researchers said. "[They] will then begin plasma emission and become shooting star[s].”
With countless spacecraft already orbiting the earth, ALE has promised that they will prevent their satellite from becoming “space junk” by purposely guiding it to reenter the atmosphere within 25 years, becoming a large meteor on its own.
The company hopes that their outer space firework show will help the science community learn more about meteors. They also have not ruled out providing them for large-scale events, such as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"While we do intend on providing our shooting stars, once complete, to large-scale events — and we also have mentioned the Olympic Games as an event that we would love to work with (*hint*) in interviews — we have not made an official proposal to the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and hence do not have any facts or developments to disclose at the moment," the company stated.
