日本2020年奥运会将呈现绚丽“人造流星雨”

2020 Olympic Games: A man-made meteor shower launched by satellite could open the games in Tokyo.

日本2020年奥运会将呈现绚丽“人造流星雨”

Japanese research company ALE is bidding to create an artificial meteor shower for the opening ceremony of Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. The project, Sky Canvas, goes beyond your average fireworks display:it involves launching a satellite into space “loaded with about 500 to 1000 “source particles” that become ingredients for a shooting star”. The company explains.

日本一家名为Ale的公司公布了一项创新技术，希望能为日本2020年奥运会制造一场“人造流星雨”。这个名为“Sky Canvas”的项目远远超出了你对于烟火秀的理解。Ale公司解释说：“这场人造流星雨是将一颗小型人造卫星发射进入大气层，然后与大气层进行摩擦产生500到1000颗颗粒物，这些颗粒物就是人造流星雨的组成部分。”

The company, which is aiming to launch its first satellitein the second half of 2017, outlines how the project works:

旨在2017年下半年发射第一颗人造卫星的Ale公司就“人造流星雨”这一项目做了如下概述：

When the satellite stabilizes in orbit, we will discharge the particles using a specially designed device on board. The particles will travel about one-thirds of the way around the Earth and enter the atmosphere. It will then begin plasma emission and become a shooting star.

当人造卫星进入固定的轨道后，就会利用卫星上的一种特别设计的装置释放颗粒物。这些颗粒物会绕着地球飞奔1/3的路程，然后进入大气层。之后就会开始进行等离子发射最终形成流星雨。

In company’s initial tests, they placed the particles(each reportedly costing $8100 to produce) in a“vacuum chamber and blasted them with hot gases traveling at supersonic speeds, simulating atmosphere re-entry,”according to industrial design site Core 77. Researchers found that, by using various materials, a range of colors were emitted:

Ale公司在刚开始试验时，他们将颗粒物放置在真空环境中，然后用超音速状态下的热气模拟大气再进入，将其引爆（据报道，一颗颗粒物的制造成本需要8100美金）。另外，研究人员还发现，使用不同的原材料，释放出来的颜色也色彩斑斓的。

If successful, the display will be visible within a 62 miles(100 kilometers) radius. According to the company, that’s a potential audience of 30 million people in the greater Tokyo area.

如果这场人工流星雨能成功的话，方圆62英里（即100千米）内都能欣赏到此壮观景象。预计能观看到此景的人数达到3亿。

Beyond man-made shooting stars, ALE’s goal is to generate a better understanding of how satellite that have outlived their missions and other waste in space can be safety burned up in the earth’s atmosphere.

除了让人们欣赏到壮观的人造流星雨之外，ALE公司还希望通过该项目，人们能更好的了解人造卫星是如何完成他们的使命，废弃物是如何在地球大气层中实现安全自燃的。