Image credit: John Barentine/Dark Sky Consultants
Coming to skies near you – are we ready for “obtrusive space advertising” – billboard-like ads that can be easily seen by people here on Earth?
Taking a “wait-a-minute” approach is John Barentine of Dark Sky Consultants.
“A revolution in the way humans access and use outer space is underway. The ongoing transition of space from a realm dominated by nation-states to one of private commercial activities is remaking near-Earth orbital space,” Barentine points out.
Image credit: StartRocket
Global market
In a recent Future In-Space Operations seminar, Barentine outlined the potentially profitable use of outer space for space advertising, in the past stymied by high launch costs.
Although not yet demonstrated practically or at scale, it is thought that this form of advertising may tap into a large and thus far unexploited global market, explains Barentine. At the same time, he adds, it presents a risk in coming years of transforming the night sky to the detriment of professional astronomers and stargazers alike.
Russia’s Angara-A5 booster.
Image credit: Roscosmos
Prototype satellite
A forerunner of things to come has already been launched, but in prototype status as a space media satellite.
Dubbed the Gagarinets mission, it was lofted on April 11 of last year via Russia’s Angara-A5 booster. Short-lived in space, the Russian 3U CubeSat of Moscow-based Avant Space was a technology demonstrator, prelude to a projected constellation of satellites each using a 150 watt laser diode that collectively project laser-light images, such as company logos, QR codes, or text in the night sky.
Gagarinets mission prototype with Anton Ossovsky, founder and CEO of Avant Space.
Image credit: Avant Space
“The allure is just too great to not try,” Barentine contends, citing one analysis that a space advertising mission could generate up to $2 million in revenue daily. That’s enough to pay for itself in about a month.
According to Avant’s website: “We will agree with you on the details of the flight mission: the shape of the constellation, the number of satellites, the time and place of the first appearance of the brand, a list of subsequent locations and the total operating time of the system.”
Image credit: Avant Space
The new constellation would fly over all continents and major cities with a population of over 1 billion people, the Avant website posting adds. “Your brand will become as unreachable as the stars in the sky.”
Public attention
First of all, is the issue of space advertising getting the needed attention at the moment?
“It’s difficult to say,” Barentine responds to Inside Outer Space. “The issue is and isn’t imminent at the same time. There is much more attention to concerns like space debris and the potential for warfare in space, given the geopolitical realities of the times, in that they are perceived to be more imminent and significant concerns.”
Barentine fears that attention to the issue of space advertising will remain low until someone successfully deploys a conspicuous, obtrusive space advertisement.
Image credit: Avant Space
“At that point it will capture the public’s attention. But once a successful deployment takes place, it will be difficult to meaningful regulate the activity post-facto,” says Barentine.
Too late, stand-by for what’s coming?
As for what group is best suited to consider the ramifications of advertising in space, Barentine senses it’s an issue for the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
“It’s the only venue in which some sort of international agreement might be reached,” Barentine said, “and even at that it will not include the perspectives of countries that are not state parties to the Outer Space Treaty.”
However, in a sense, this issue may be in a too late, stand-by for what’s coming mode.
“That is my feeling as well,” Barentine explains. “My view crystallized last year when Avant Space successfully, by its own account, tested its prototype CubeSat. The capability of deploying an obtrusive space advertisement exists.”
Image credit: NASA
There is a fragile and unspoken international agreement of sorts that “we don’t do this in space”, led by the U.S. But Barentine is not sure how long that will hold up.
What happens next?
Barentine believes that, in order to maximize profitability, he believes a successful obtrusive space advertisement campaign would center on some kind of product that is widely consumed in much of the world, so that the audience for such an ad is as large as possible.
“Likely it will be a U.S. company only in that many have the kind of global market penetration to justify the cost,” said Barentine. “But the payload won’t launch from the U.S. for legal reasons. I could see such a launch taking place, for example, in Russia.
Non-obtrusive space ad from the 1960s.
Image credit: General Foods via John Barentine
Indeed, 51 U.S. Code § 50911 deals with space advertising, noting that “No holder of a license under this chapter may launch a payload containing any material to be used for purposes of obtrusive space advertising.”
“Obtrusive space advertising” is defined 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.
Barentine recently was a co-creator of a group called the Center for Space Environmentalism. It serves as a hub of activity surrounding all aspects of the space environment, from orbital crowding, space debris to world beyond Earth and novel space activities.
For more information on the Center for Space Environmentalism, go to:
https://www.spaceenvironmentalism.org/
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