FAQ

Technology

Q. What causes the shooting star particle to glow?
A. A natural shooting star is caused by plasma light emission when dusts of various sizes rush into the Earth's atmosphere.
ALE artificially replicates some of the smaller space particles and releases them from a specially designed satellite to create human-made shooting stars.
The shooting star particle will travel one-fifth of the way around Earth before entering the atmosphere and visibly glow. When glowing, the shooting star particle can be seen from an area up to about 200km in diameter.
Q. Is there anything that sets apart the human-made shooting stars from natural ones?
A. Compared to a natural shooting star, the human-made shooting stars travel more slowly and glow for a longer period of time.
Q. What is the shooting star particle like?
A. The shooting star particle is a small 1cm sphere with a mass of a few grams.
Q. How far above the surface will the satellite travel?
A. About 400km above the ground.
Q. What happens to the satellite once it is no longer in commission?
A. Once the satellite is out of commission, it will re-enter the atmosphere and completely disintegrate to prevent it from becoming space debris.
Q. Wouldn't the mysticalness and appeal of a natural shooting star be lost if there was a human-made shooting star?
A. As human-made shooting stars travel more slowly and glow for a longer period of time compared to a natural shooting star, we want to make human-made shooting stars to be unique in its own way.
We would like our human-made shooting stars to be not only entertainment but through obtaining and analyzing the human-made shooting star observational data, we want to contribute to the development of science.
Furthermore, we continuously dedicate ourselves to research and development, with the desire to contribute to space development, research on performance of rockets and how to safely return people and things from outer space to Earth.

Safety

Q. Can a meteor particle hit the ground?
A. The shooting star particles burn up while entering Earth’s atmosphere and therefore do not hit the ground.
Q. Can a meteor particle hit an aircraft?
A. Aircraft fly at altitudes of about 10km, while our human-made shooting stars burn up at altitudes of about 60 to 80km. Therefore, it will not collide with the aircraft.
Q. Can human-made shooting star satellites be used as a weapon?
A. Our human-made shooting star satellites cannot be diverted to any kind of weapons or military use.
Q. Do you have permission to release human-made shooting stars?
A. We have and will acquire permits and approvals from designated local authorities and necessary government and non-governmental entities.
Specifically in Japan, the Space Activity Law (Cabinet Office), Radio Law (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), etc.

Business

Q. What is the SKY CANVAS Project?
A. Sky Canvas is the world's first human-made shooting star project, aiming to bring people all over the world together to witness an unprecedented, collective experience. Using space as our stage, we will constantly strive to bring to life new levels of entertainment while utilizing its technology in the development of science.

Environment

Q. Do human-made shooting stars create more space debris? Or destroy the environment?

A. Our human-made shooting stars are developed with the environmental impact in consideration.

Human-made shooting star particles
Our human-made shooting stars burn up at altitudes of about 60 to 80km. The shooting star particles will burn up while entering Earth’s atmosphere and therefore do not hit the ground.
This has been verified by calculations and arc wind tunnel experiments. Our human-made shooting star grains are made of harmless substances that have been confirmed to have no impact on the environment both on the ground and in space.

Human-made shooting star satellite
Once the satellite is out of commission, it will re-enter the atmosphere and completely disintegrate to prevent it from becoming space debris.

Q. Do human-made shooting stars get in the way of astronomical observation?
A. The impact of human-made shooting stars on astronomical observations is limited.
Although both human-made shooting stars and natural shooting stars emit light according to the same principle the way they are visible are different.
Compared to a natural shooting star, the human-made shooting stars travel more slowly and glow for a longer period of time.
Q. Do human-made shooting stars get in the way of communication devices?
A. Human-made shooting stars will not cause any disruption in radio communication.
Q. What are human-made shooting stars useful for other than entertainment?
A. We acquire and analyze observational data of human-made shooting stars and verify the possibility of using it to elucidate the mechanism of climate change. Through this, we aim to contribute to the sustainable development of science and humankind.