A Japanese company plans to stage the world’s first artificial meteor shower after a rocket carrying its technology was blasted into space on Friday.

Astro Live Experiences (ALE), a Tokyo-based start-up which describes itself as a “space entertainment company”, has developed a micro-satellite which can create what it calls a “shooting stars on demand” service.

The satellite was attached to an Epsilon-4 rocket launched into space on Friday morning from the Uchinoura Space Centre in southern Kagoshima prefecture by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

After orbiting the earth over the coming year, the satellite will debut its technology to the world with its first artificial meteor shower scheduled to light up skies above Hiroshima city in spring 2020.

Lena Okajima, founder and CEO of ALE, was cautiously optimistic following its launch into space, telling the Telegraph: “First of all, I am relieved about the success of the launch of JAXA’s Epsilon rocket 4 and the separation of our first satellite.