China is planning to launch its three own "artificial moon" by the year 2020.

The city of Chengdu has unveiled plans to replace the city's streetlights with a satellite that will boost the glow of the real moon.

The artificial or man-made moon is a satellite carrying a huge space mirror, which can reflect the sun light to the Earth.

The reflected sun light can cover an area of 3,600 sq km to 6,400 sq km, and the illumination intensity is expected to be eight times of the moon light. The moon orbits the Earth about 380,000 km from the Earth, while the man-made moon is expected to be put on an orbit within 500 km from the Earth, the state-run China Daily reported.

Officials from the city of Chengdu said they were hoping to save money on street lighting and also increase tourism.