The world’s first artificial meteor shower is set to fly over Japan tonight

The artificial meteor shower is the creation of the Tokyo-based firm Astro Live Experiences (ALE), the BBC first reported.

The company, led by CEO and founder Lena Okajima, works in what it calls the “space entertainment” sector. The artificial meteor shower works similarly to real ones–pellets burn up in the atmosphere, putting on a light show.

ALE’s tech makes the most of the disintegration routine by releasing centimeter-sized pellets that dissolve into bright colors as they heat up and break down in the atmosphere.

ALE claims their version is an improvement over natural meteor showers as it lasts longer and is brighter, so it can be seen even with city lights polluting the dark sky.

The world’s first artificial meteor shower is set to fly over Japan tonight

I guess it already happened, but could not find any news about how it went. Did find a promo YouTube video by ALE.

Maybe I am confused by the time zones but the story clearly says this.

The rocket is due to launched at 9:50 a.m. Japan time on Thursday (7:50 p.m. tonight EST) hopefully shooting ALE’s fake meteors into the atmosphere a few minutes after liftoff.

I know we have at least one member in Japan. Hopefuly someone in Japan can let us know if it happened and how it went.

Since this is a conspiracy site, maybe this is a covert test of a new space shotgun, where the ammo are actually small tungsten rods or spheres that enter the atmosphere at hypervelocity and hits over a wide region with a sort of bird shot blast that can penetrate hardened targets like nuclear reactors...

Thanks for that. Kind of cool - like the next generation of fireworks shows.

That pesky international date line!

ALE's website
star-ale.com...
They were bought out by Sunshine Inc in September

According to their website (star-ale.com...)

Tokyo, Japan- ALE Co., Ltd. , the Tokyo-based space venture company which is led by its CEO and founder Lena Okajima, has recently announced that they will be launching their first satellite on January 17, 2019, after 7 years of research and development. This satellite will take a ride on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Epsilon Rocket #4 for the journey to space. ALE aims to realize the world’s first man made meteor with its own satellites, including this one.

So the launch is today in their local time (if there is no hold call). That doesn't mean the first show will occur today, as it could take a while for the times to line up withe the proper viewing time for deployment.




www.youtube.com...
Video about the launch of Epislon 4, giving some input on the number of satellites being put in orbit on the mission. Given the large number of sats being put up, it could take a fair amount of time for each of them to reach their intended orbits.

The world’s first man made meteor event will take place in the spring of 2020 in Japan at the vicinity of Hiroshima and Seto inland sea. The meteors can be observed by over 6 million people in an area up to 200km in diameter. Using this first satellite and the currently developing second satellite, ALE aims to make the unprecedented man made meteor events into a reality. We call this attempt, "SHOOTING STAR challenge"

a reply to: dubiousatworst

Thanks for clearing that up. I would love to see this live, but will have to settle for video when it happens. A company would do it in the US if they could figure out how to charge admission

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Or a way to make it into an advertisement... perhaps deploying them to make the "Golden Arches"?

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Well, I am not sure its fair to call this the first artificial meteor shower, if we are defining meteors as "any old thing that burns up in the atmosphere", as opposed to the standard definition involving rocks often billions of years old hitting the atmosphere and burning up there.

But if we are adopting a more amorphous definition, then I would say that the various space station and satellite de-orbits that have occurred, planned or not, over the years, most assuredly count as artificial meteor showers. If so, this planned display would merely be the first effort which exclusively MEANT to create such a scenario, rather than having any purpose beyond that initially.

Its all very well I am sure, and I would imagine that if the creators of this system put half as much effort into ensuring it looks nice, as do some of the Japanese traditional firework makers, then boy howdy, this will be some hell of a show. But lets not get it twisted, when it comes to world firsts.

youtu.be...
For those of you interested in seeing a replay of the launch. (if the timestamp does not work it is at about the 30 minute mark of that vid)

It appears as if the launch was nominal.

a reply to: dubiousatworst

Thanks for posting the video.

Here are a few related headlines I found today.

Glowing space billboards could show ads in the night sky

This Russian startup wants to put huge ads in space. Not everyone is on board with the idea.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

They made and error and have edited it.

A test rocket for the world’s first artificial meteor shower in 2020 flew over Japan tonight

Test rocket only.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Thanks for posting that

That makes much more sense. Going to have to wait a year