Lena Okajima grew up in Tottori, a small populated prefecture in Japan 100 miles (160 kilomets) northwest of Osaka. During her childhood, Okjima would marvel at the sight of shootings streaking across the clear night sky.
She's particularly fond of the annual Leonid meteor shower, reported Edition. During her adult years in Tokyo, however, she couldn't really enjoy the celestial event as it wasn't as visible compare to where she grew up.
This, in turn, played a significant role in Okijima eventually founding the Japanese space start-up, ALE. ALE is currently developing technology that would provide on-demand man-made meteor showers to the public to celebrate certain milestones and occasions.
Japan Start-Up To Launch Satellite Into Orbit To Create Artificial Meteors
"Imagine a future, where you can use our meteors for international fireworks displays, a proposal for marriage, or a special memorial," says Shinsuke Abe, ALE's research director and Nihon University aerospace engineering professor. The start-up is also believed to spearhead the opening of the 2020 Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo as rumors are circulating that ALE has bid on it to take part in.
But this feat is an ambitious endeavor indeed. To achieve this, the team will need to send a satellite into orbit, said The Atlantic. It will take several months for it to reach its intended position in the thermosphere, the second highest layer of Earth's atmosphere.
Initially, once the satellite is in orbit ALE won't be able to control its speed and location. However, as the company launch more satellite the coverage will eventually become more flexible.
Man-Made Meteor Shower Better Than The Real Thing
The satellite is expected to orbit up to four years carrying 300 to 500 of ALE's artificial meteors. A discharge device fitted on the satellite will eject these man-made pellets that are about two centimeters in diameter.
And these artificial meteor showers will be even better than the real thing, according to ALE. The company's meteor will be travelling at only five miles per second opposed to the zipping natural meteorites that whizzed pass Earth at 45 miles per second.
Upon being fired from the satellite, the artificial pellets will travel one third of the way around the Earth before entering the atmosphere at an intended location. While this idea isn't new among astronomers, ALE is the very first to come this close in making it a reality.
And though there are a lot of scientific and financial hurdles to be conquered Okijima and the rest of ALE is determined in turning this concept into fruition by 2018 where it will launch its first artificial cosmic event. "We want people to look up, not down at the ground," says Abe. "People in Japan are so busy every day and they need more culture and science in their lives to bring them closer to nature, and to relax."
