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The 2020 Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo, Japan and like most hosting countries who want to leave a lasting impression, the Japanese folks intend to do just that. Star-ALE, the group that will be behind the Sky Canvas light show intended for the event, will be taking it up a notch by offering an uncanny opening that may involved a man-made meteor shower. If they are successful, this should be another first when it comes to opening big events with a “bang”.

Star-Ale founder and chief executive officer Lena Okajima is aware of the uniqueness of the project, something that will band together astronomy and entertainment.

“These shooting stars that are born through science function as a high-profit entertainment business, and the resulting funds will serve to further advance fundamental scientific research,” says Okajima via the CS Monitor.

To make it work, Star-Ale will need to find a way to have objects falling from the earth’s atmosphere where the debris will eventually heat up and burn to produce the bright displays before disintegrating prior to reaching the ground.

Much of these falling junk from space have been seen before, something similar to the Perseids which comes in annually. For the Star-Ale group, the challenge is to come up with a way to make the spectacle happen to make the “Sky Canvass Project” something that will wow the athletes and people on hand at the XXXII Olympiad to be held in Tokyo 2020.

Once ironed out, the debris will originate from a satellite filled with hundreds of source particles that will comprise a planned shooting star.

The source particles would be launched around the world from the spacecraft which will eventually enter the atmosphere and begin to burn at a height of around 40 to 50 miles.

Once launched, the particles will initially be dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star that can be seen from earth. The shooting stars will travel slower and farther in the sky than naturally occurring showers, creating a longer-lasting pyrotechnics show than what ordinary meteors can offer.

From the plans alone, it should not be surprising why the cost of holding one is likely to be a costly one. Each particle will cost roughly $8,100 and that doesn’t even cover the construction of the actual satellite yet

Star-ALE says plans to begin testing the microsatellite’s capabilities by the end of next year, and will hopefully be ready for Tokyo 2020.