Japanese rocket blasts into space to deliver world's 1st artificial meteor shower

All sounds good fun, except some reports that the rocket blast-off set part of the surrounding woods on fire! LOL

Spending all of that cash just to create an artificial meteor shower?

With millions of poor people and all sorts of other problems to address, this is just a huge waste of money.

@Jenni

Wrong target dude! This is a private company creating interesting jobs that actually decreases the amount of poor people and sadness in the world.

Where you want to be stopping waste is on things like Politicians salaries, Military budgets and so on.

But don't worry, the day is coming when money will cease to be a thing.

Certainly being done in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.

Hiroshima was chosen as an international senti-mental favorite for a practice run.

The Big Display on the opening night of the Olympics will be to warm the cockles of the hearts of the suffering folks of Tohoku. Kind of "out-of-world" sparklers to sooth all ailments.

Cut & Paste this as a reminder of the occasion to come next year.

Another code name to test missiles

Essentially

Doesn't this kind of rocket launch have a huge environmental impact? Since everyone goes on about airplanes and carbon footprints, seems a bit odd, just for the sake of an entertainment show.

I' disgusted. Look what we've done to our own planet, now we're planting cotton on the moon, doing artificial meteor showers....

Isn't there enough of our garbage in space already?

After we start this nonsense, we won't even be able to appreciate a real meteor shower anymore!

"shooting stars on demand" service

There's a problem with this. As everyone knows, if you make a wish during the second or two a shooting star is visible it comes true. Until now, it's been pretty difficult to look at the night sky at the exact moment a shooting star appears, thus keeping the number of fulfilled wishes down. But now, good grief, if millions of people know exactly when to look up, there will be millions of wishes granted, which just might cause more trouble than get rid of trouble, lol.

Where you want to be stopping waste is on things like Politicians salaries, Military budgets and so on.

Most government spending, actually.

But don't worry, the day is coming when money will cease to be a thing.

Cash, maybe, but money will never cease to be a thing. In the 23rd century most people in the galaxy will be using Federation Credits :D

Doesn't this kind of rocket launch have a huge environmental impact? Since everyone goes on about airplanes and carbon footprints, seems a bit odd, just for the sake of an entertainment show.

The carbon footprint of a single rocket launch vs 1.2 billion cars and about 40k flights running every single day, when even all that traffic represents only about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions? Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned.

I' disgusted. Look what we've done to our own planet, now we're planting cotton on the moon, doing artificial meteor showers....

Isn't there enough of our garbage in space already?

You do realize that space is a vast radioactive wasteland compared to which our entire planet is a meaningless speck of dust, right? Nothing humanity can do even registers on that scale.

Any type of shower is good-bring it on.....!

On a planetary scale one rocket launch does not an ecological catastrophe make, but it can cause local ecological damage, and there is never just one launch at a site.

A fairly frivolous use of the technology, but every economic use increases the demand and starts to bring down the cost of space access which in the long run is something we as a species need to do.

Still not convinced using oversized fireworks is the best way to reach space.

Unbelievable news! This is a fantastic achievement, congratulations to JAXA! I look forward to seeing a big beautiful meteor shower one day.

There are things that humanity can do for fun and interest and education, not just for military applications. The woman running the company in charge of the mini meteorites seemed genuinely enthusiastic.

The cynic in us will want to see it as somehow a weapon in disguise, or if not, the negative in us will want to criticize it. Sometimes though what you see is what you get, I reckon!

Why spend what probably is million of dollars on creating something that already exists naturally? Why the heck will you turn something natural and special into something domestic and artificial!?

I will say Japan ruins the joy and excitement of meteor showers, by making them occur more regularly and by destroying their naturality! They've even gone to the extent to call these satellites "stars"!

To put it mildly, most stupid idea of the year... So far.

They launched SEVEN satellites carrying seven different new potential applications. We have no information on the other six which might have made a more interesting story. As it is, we'll have to wait in Heiwa Koen to see if the spectacle is as dramatic as Ms Okajima believes it will be. If it is, it could become de rigueur at national celebrations and other high budget events all over the world. We, as Humans, will pay almost anything to be entertained so that, however briefly, we might be distracted from the reality of Human existence. And Nihon is clearly creating its own niche in the satellite launch business using smaller launch vehicles to carry all manner of specialized and less massive satellites. And they're getting good at it and the ability and foresight to include a 100% 'entertainment' module showing that innovation in spaceflight's uses is possible for anyone is a marketing master stroke. No?

You do realize that space is a vast radioactive wasteland compared to which our entire planet is a meaningless speck of dust, right? Nothing humanity can do even registers on that scale.

Right. That meaningless speck of dust we call home. What a dumb response. Do you realize it's the only planet we can live on? Yeah. You're right. What's one more rocket. Peanuts. What's one more lost species due to pollution. Pennies.

Do you realize how tiny and insignificant our entire knowledge about space is? Imagine how insignificant yours is!