Space Advertising Could Be Our Next Great Revenue Source
Space News - Astronomers are calling on nations to ban advertising in space that can be seen from the ground, calling it the latest threat to the dark and quiet sky.
At a briefing during the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the organization rolled out a statement calling for bans on “obtrusive space advertising” because of the interference it could cause for groundbased astronomy.
Obtrusive space advertising is defined in U.S. federal law as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognized by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.” Such advertising is banned in federal law through prohibitions on granting launch licenses for missions carrying payloads to carry out space advertising.
While that federal ban has been in place for decades, John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, a member of AAS’s Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE), said at the briefing there is growing concern that companies in other nations would launch obtrusive space 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.”
When the sun goes down this evening, take a moment to step outside and take in the world around you. What do you see? Houses, buildings, cars, people, etc. Mostly likely you see trees. The ground is probably covered in grass, snow, asphalt, or concrete. Maybe trash. Maybe some used needles depending on where you live. But more than anything else, you see sky. If I could hazard a guess, unless you're downtown in the middle of a major city, I'd say 80% of what you can see is sky.
The mysteries of the universe are vast and wide. Billions of trillions of stars. Scientists estimate there are roughly 20 sextillion planets across the known universe. How many of them contain life? It would be arrogant for us think only Earth is capable of inhabiting intelligent beings. All things considered, when you look up at the limitless night sky, a sky the seemingly goes on forever. When you consider its expansiveness. Its infiniteness. Other words that come up when you Google "synonyms for enormous". I don't know about you, but when I look up at the stars and consider the immeasurable amount of unexplored space that hangs over our heads, I think to myself, "What a fucking waste".
The big corporations of the world that we know and love will utilize every tangible surface to market their product. Sides of buildings, the insides and outsides of busses, subways, airplanes, banners drug by airplanes, articles of clothing, the ground. They leave no stone unturned. Except for the largest, most available piece of advertising real estate of them all. The god damn sky.
How the United States, or China, or any country of significance has not yet found a way to sell sky space in a major way is shocking when you think about it. That no government has tried to make boatloads of money by laying claim to sky acres, and selling off plots of sky to corporations who want to market their product to across however many miles of land their projection of the Coca-Cola polar bears bathing in the Big Dipper can be seen from.
To leave such a large portion of what's visible to eyes of potential consumers completely untouched by big business is downright wasteful. Now we have astronomers, the Neil deGrasse Tyson's and Bill Nye's of the world (along with other less accomplished men of science), who are trying to cut off an enormous revenue stream at the knees before it even gets a chance to completely take over space and forever change life as we know it. Which seems like a miscalculation on the astronomers part. Nobody was even talking about space ads. I don't think anybody of importance even knew this was an option. But now it's been brought to attention… space advertising seems like it could be a pretty profitable endeavor. The amount of money we could bring into our country from political ads during election season alone could erase our national debt in one fell swoop.
Do you have any idea how many eyeballs the sunset gets every night? I don't. But I bet it's a lot. It's more people than watch the Super Bowl on a nightly basis. Picture yourself at the scenic Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. You're watching an awe inspiring sunset from the Yavapi Point. You're at peace with nature. As the sky turns from red to black, and the sun settles behind the canyon, in it's place rises a $3.5 billion advertisement from American-based company Anheuser-Busch to signify that it's time to leave nature and retreat to a dark Grand Canyon area bar to stimulate the economy with 10-12 $8 Bud Lights.
When you look up at the sky, it's impossible to not think about capitalism. If the technology is there (which apparently it is), leaving space completely untouched by advertisements and commercials is almost irresponsible. I'm not sure how the logistics of it would work, how far a space ad could be seen from, or how much money a mile of space would cost. But that's not for me to figure out. All I know is more advertising = more money. Of all the mysteries of the universe, the world we live in is the only world we really know for sure. Our world is the most important one. And money is what makes our world go round.
Astronomers will argue that gigantic sky ads hinder our ability to explore the cosmos, and educate our children on the wonders of outer space. That it would prevent astronomers from uncovering the aforementioned mysteries of the universe. That it would be fucked up beyond measure to start selling the sky. But we need to take care of our home the best way we know how. By taking the natural resources god blessed us with and siphoning as much money out of them as humanly possible.
