Russian Beacon satellite set to light up the night sky: 'Artificial star' would reflect sunlight to illuminate parts of Earth

The brightest object in the night sky is Sirius, known as the 'dog star' or Alpha Canis Majoris.

But that could be about to change if a crowdfunded project in Russia takes off as planned later this year.
Called the 'Mayak' or 'Beacon' project, engineers are hoping to launch a satellite that will become the brightest object in our skies, apart from the sun, thanks to a giant reflective sheet of material.

The launch is scheduled for the summer and is expected to be taken up in a Soyuz 2 rocket, with help from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

The team is planning to place the spacecraft in a sun-synchronous orbit 370 miles (600km) above the ground. This means it will always be in the path of sunlight, so will always be shining at different locations on Earth as it rotates. Read Full Story Here