The Four Great Inventions of paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass are the four most amazing and revolutionising innovations that came from ancient China. In the modern world, creative innovations include the first AI teaching assistant, making a house out of 3D-printed parts and clones of monkeys.
纸张、火药、印刷和指南针四大发明是中国古代最令人驚奇和最具革命性的四项创新。 在现代世界，创造性的创新包括第一个人工智能教学助手，用3D打印零件和猴子的克隆制作房子。
All illustrate cutting edge innovation. But one idea really takes the biscuit; plans for an artificial moon for Chengdu, capital of China’s Sichuan Province.
都说明了尖端的创新。 但有一个想法是真正需要饼干的；计划为中国四川省省会成都建造人造月亮。
Chengdu’s artificial moon is a satellite that will be launched into space to orbit above Chengdu and reflect the sun’s light at night on to the city to replace streetlights. According to officials, it will be able to shine eight times brighter than the moon and save huge sums of money.
成都的人造月亮是一颗将发射到太空的卫星，在成都上空运行，并在夜间将太阳光反射到城市，以取代路灯。 据官员们说，它将能够比月亮发光八倍，并节省大量资金。
The idea has been around for a while; China released plans for it back in October, 2018. According to Wu Chungfeng, Chairman of Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute, the moon would focus its reflected light only onto the city of Chengdu itself..
这个想法已经存在了一段时间；中国早在2018年10月就发布了这个计划。 据成都航天科技微电子系统研究所所长吴忠峰称，月球的反射光只会聚焦于成都市本身。
Such a concept of reflecting the sun’s light at night was inspired by a French artist who thought that if there was a necklace of mirrors above the earth it would reflect the sun’s light all year round in Paris. While the plan for this innovation is to save electricity and money it has both advantages and disadvantages.
這種在夜間反射太陽光的概念受到一位法国艺术家的啟發，他认为，如果地球上空有一條鏡子項鍊，它在巴黎全年都能反射太陽光。 虽然这种创新的计划是节省电力和金钱，但它有利也有弊。
As previously mentioned one of the main benefits of the artificial moon will be the money it saves. Since it replaces streetlights at night it is estimated to save US$170 million a year which would have been otherwise used for electricity. It would also be reflecting the sun so if there was any emergency and a blackout happened, there would still be light. However, Mr. Wu did say that the fake moon’s light would only amount to a fifth that of streetlights.
如前所述，人造月亮的主要好处之一是它节省了钱。 由于它取代了夜间的路灯，估计每年可以节省1.7亿美元，否则本来可以用于用电。 它还会反射太阳，所以如果有任何紧急情况和发生停电，仍然会有光。 然而，吴先生确实说过，假月光只有路灯的五分之一。
There are also theories that the light would affect animals and their monthly rhythms and biological processes. John Barentine, Director of Public Policy at the International Dark-Sky Association, said, “This potentially creates significant new environmental problems with what, at first, seems like a novel approach to an already solved problem”.
也有理论认为，光会影响动物及其每月的节律和生物过程。 国际暗空协会公共政策主任John Barentine说：“这可能会造成重大的新环境问题，起初，这似乎是解决已经解决的问题的新方法。”
All of the benefits or disadvantages of the fake moon cannot be 100 percent accurate, not until it is actually launched and its effects are analysed. However, the biggest question is whether or not Chengdu’s fake moon will be a success or will it fail?
假月亮的所有优点或缺点都不可能100%准确，直到它实际发射并分析其影响。 然而，最大的问题是成都的假月亮是成功還是失敗？
China has often flourished where other countries have floundered. In 1994, Vladimir Syromyatnikov, a Russian engineer tried to launch an artificial moon for this purpose. The satellite was called Znamya which means “banner” in Russian and it did work, at least partially. Astronauts on the International Space Station could see it reflecting a beam of light towards earth. However, those on Earth in the beam’s path only saw it for a moment. The issue was that the satellite was moving at 7 km/s so it would only flash over any one spot on the ground for a second. Had wanted it to stay in place they would have had to put it 36,000 km above the earth, i.e. in geostationary orbit. According to Scottish physicist, Scott Manley, if China were to put it that high, a much bigger mirror would be needed; Russia’s had a diameter of 65 metres.
中国经常在其他国家挣扎的地方蓬勃发展。 1994年，俄罗斯工程师弗拉基米尔·西罗米亚特尼科夫试图为此目的发射人造卫星。 这颗卫星被称为Znamya，在俄语中是“横幅”的意思，它确实起作用了，至少是部分。 国际空间站上的宇航员可以看到它向地球反射着一束光。 然而，地球上那些在光束路径上的人只看到了片刻。 问题是，卫星以7公里/秒的速度移动，因此它只会在地面的任何一个点上闪烁一秒钟。 如果想让它保持原位，他们必须把它放在离地球36,000公里的地方，即地球静止轨道上。 根据苏格兰物理学家斯科特·曼利的说法，如果中国把它放得那么高，就需要一个更大的镜子；俄罗斯的镜子直径为65米。
With little news released about the Chengdu artificial moon of late, the project may have missed its initial self-imposed deadline. The plan for the satellite was for it to be launched at some point in 2020 but an exact date was never given. It was also said that if it was successful, then China would launch three more by 2022.
由于最近几乎没有关于成都人造月亮的消息，该项目可能错过了最初自我设定的最后期限。 卫星的计划是在2020年的某个时候发射，但从未给出确切的日期。 还有人说，如果它成功了，那么中国将在2022年之前再推出三个。
Where there are plenty of ups and downs to the project, Chengdu’s authorities, the moon’s designers and the media at large seemed to have missed perhaps the singularly most important point. What if it’s cloudy?
该项目有很多起伏，成都当局、月球设计师和整个媒体似乎错过了最重要的一点。 如果天气多云怎么办？