The opening ceremony at the 2020 Olympics may feature a man-made meteor shower
Hosting the Olympic Games is a rare honor that’s bestowed upon the luckiest of nations. Athletes from around the globe travel to compete in the games every two years and with the entire world watching, it’s no surprise that host nations pull out all the stops in terms of showmanship.
Tokyo will serve as the host nation for the 2020 Olympic Games and they certainly want to impress. According to reports, a company by the name of Star-ALE is bidding for the right to create a man-made meteor shower that would rain down over the capital of Japan during the opening ceremony.
If you want to leave the rest of the world in awe, a man-made meteor shower would certainly do just that.
The plan would be to send up a series of microsatellites into orbit loaded with 500 to 1,000 specially-developed pellets. The pellets, each of which reportedly costs about $8,000 to manufacture, would be made from various metals and elements. As they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they ignite at an altitude of around 35 to 50 miles up and display various colors in the process.
The meteor shower would be visible from at least 120 miles away, allowing as many as 30 million locals to witness the spectacle in addition to the millions watching around the world at home. The only question is, would that kind of money be worth it? We’ll find out in a few years.
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