Astronaut Shares Never-Seen-Before ‘Earthset’ Video

A city in southwestern China has announced an unusual plan to illuminate city streets that seems more sci-fi than science. 

Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province, plans to launch an "artificial moon" in 2020, the People's Daily Online reports.

The Chinese newspaper said Wu Chunfeng, chairman of Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute, described the artificial moon at a conference earlier this month.

It would actually be an illumination satellite, and it would be eight times brighter than the actual moon.

The artificial moon would have solar panel-like wings with highly reflective coating to reflect sunlight onto the ground, the Asia Times reported. Other details, such as cost and exact launch date, were not released.

The satellite would be able to illuminate an area with a diameter of 6 to 50 miles.

(MORE: 90 Percent of Sea Salts Contaminated with Microplastics, Study Finds)

Wu said testing of the illumination satellite started years ago, and it is ready to be used in space. 

This wouldn't be the first time a space mirror has been tested. In 1999, Russian scientists launched from the Mir space station a prototype for giant reflectors that would beam sunlight to far northern cities during dark winters, the Associated Press reported. The mirror, called Znamya 2, got stuck and failed to open fully.

Not everyone is excited about the prospect of constant light at night.

John Barentine, Director of Public Policy at the International Dark-Sky Association, told Forbes magazine, “The Chengdu ‘artificial moon’ would have the effect of significantly increasing the nighttime brightness of an already light-polluted city, creating problems for both Chengdu’s residents, who are unable to screen out the unwanted light, as well as for the urban wildlife population that can’t simply go inside and close the shutters."

The People's Daily Online wrote that Kang Weimin, director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace, Harbin Institute of Technology, explained that the satellite light will be like a twilight glow; therefore it should not affect the routine of the animals.