Laser Billboards in the Sky? Space Advertising Is Here And Astronomers Want It Stopped Before It Starts
29th Jan 2025
It sounds like something from the Blade Runner franchise, but space advertising could present a real challenge, and at the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the organisation called for this to be nipped in the bud.
The Battle to Keep Space Ad-Free
U.S. federal law defines obtrusive space advertising as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognised by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.”
This kind of advertising is banned in the United States but companies are using workarounds, and in other countries, there is still a big problem coming if space advertising is not controlled.
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, a member of AAS’s Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE), warned about the potential issues of advertising payloads:
“The lure of it is so great that I can’t imagine that no one will try,” he said. “I think the commercial value will prompt somebody to do it.”
Barentine also discussed the operations of a Russian company, Avant Space. They launched a 3U cubesat in April 2024 that was designed to test technologies for a future satellite constellation with the ability to use lasers to form adverts in the sky.
Also in Russia, a company called StartRocket announced it had a contract with the Russian subsidiary of drinks giants PepsiCo, but the company pulled out after an “exploratory test” with a high-altitude balloon.
The AAS statement asked for “appropriate international convention, treaty, or law” and also asked the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) to discuss a ban.
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