Potential for man-made meteor shower at 2020 Olympics
Digital Reporter
Friday, May 20, 2016, 4:05 PM - Opening and closing ceremonies are highly-anticipated events at the Olympics, and a start-up company is hoping to create a spectacle at the 2020 games that's out of this world.
Star-ALE has proposed creating a man-made meteor shower to light up the sky over Tokyo, Japan during the 2020 opening ceremonies.
THE BIG REVEAL: Will a developing La Niña affect our summer as much as El Niño affected our winter? Tune in for the Summer Forecast on May 24 at 9pm EST and we'll help you plan your summer | SNEAK PEEK HERE
If all goes according to plan, it should be visible within a 200-km area over Japan. Given the country's population, that means a potential 30,000,000 people could be getting a first-hand look at the light show.
Next year the company plans to test launch a series of microsattelites into space that release special pellets that ignite and glow as they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
The pellets -- which are made from metals and other elements so they burn with different colours -- ignite when they're between 56 and 80 km above the Earth's surface, and they're relatively cheap to make.
According to Gizmodo, the pellets cost about $8,000 to manufacture -- but that doesn't include the cost of the satellite or the cost of launching the technology into space.
While the idea is certainly intriguing, there's no word yet on whether or not there's enough money in the budget to fund the light show.
VIDEO: RAW SEWAGE AT THE BRAZIL OLYMPICS:
