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March 18, 20256 min readSpace Advertising Could Outshine the StarsUnless Its Banned FirstAstronomers are racing to protect the dark skies as private companies seek to place large advertisements in Earth orbitBy Sharmila Kuthunur edited by Lee BillingsIn the not-too-distant future, Earths skies could become cluttered with bright billboardlike advertising displays produced by orbiting constellations of small, maneuverable laser-equipped satellites. Allvision/Getty ImagesImagine stepping outside to stargaze on a clear summer night, only to see no stars but rather the garish glow of advertisements streaming across the sky.This seemingly science-fictional scenario isnt actually implausible: private companies are inching closer to launching swarms of tiny maneuverable satellites to create billboardlike displays big and bright enough to be seen from the ground. Prohibitive launch costs and nascent satellite-positioning technology have historically hindered this sort of celestial drone show, but last April the Russian start-up Avant Space announced it had successfully deployed what it billed to be the first space media satellite into Earth orbit. The prototype was a technology demonstration for a planned fleet of small, low-cost, laser-equipped satellites designed to emblazon Earths sky with corporate logos, QR codes and other consumer-culture ephemera.The suddenly all-too-real prospect of large-scale space advertising prompted Piero Benvenuti, former general secretary of the International Astronomical Union, to raise the issue in February during a subcommittee meeting of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the United Nations body that governs the use of space for peace, security and development. Benvenuti urged delegates from 104 member nations, including Russia, to ban obtrusive space ads, warning that such displays could otherwise become the ultimate light trespass that would ruinously interfere with ground-based astronomy.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.There is absolutely no reason why you should use space in such a useless way to advertise commercials, Benvenuti says. The U.N. doesnt regulate space launches, he notes, but it can help establish international norms to prevent any space-based advertising initiatives from gaining momentum. Our goal on the diplomatic part is to keep the attention of everybody on the issue, he says.Artificial Stars in the SkyIn 2020 Russia granted Avant Space a patent for a laser-based technology to project messages, logos and other images for advertisers onto the sky. The start-up plans to soon offer its customers brief, app-based control of a satellite, allowing them to light [their] own star, says Vlad Sitnikov of StartRocket, a Russia-based firm partnering with Avant Space. An investor pitch shared with Scientific American shows that the two companies aim to deploy between 200 and 400 laser-fitted small satellites into an orbit roughly 370 miles above Earths surface before the end of this decade. Such a swarm could beam ads down toward our planet for potentially hours each and every day. Their vision, Sitnikov says, is to prove that space is not just for scientists, not just for the militaryit is entertainment, too. And people like entertainment.Anton and I, were dreaming about this technology, he adds, referring to Anton Ossovskiy, founder and CEO of Avant Space. Where there is humanity, there will be advertisementswe want to be the first.This isnt the first time astronomers have sounded alarms about space-based advertising. Light from most any conceivable space ad would need to be sufficiently bright to be visible to the unaided eyeand would thus photobomb any unlucky ground-based telescopes that happened to be in the way. In 2000 such concerns helped to spur the U.S. Congress to pass a federal law that banned the issuance of launch licenses to companies for the purpose of ferrying payloads for obtrusive space advertising. (This law was first introduced as potential legislation in 1993, when it arose on the heels of a proposal by a Georgia-based marketing company to display a space billboard in the then upcoming 1996 Summer Olympic Games.) The recent push for a global ban urges other nations to enactand enforcesimilar laws before its too late. Astronomers fear that as space becomes ever easier to access, more companies will follow Avant Space and StartRocket in becoming drawn to the allure of space-based advertising, with few, if any, regulatory limits on their potentially disruptive plans.If space billboards do indeed make an abrupt splash in our sky, current space law doesnt prohibit the displays from drifting over countries that have banned them, notes astronomer John Barentine, who spearheaded a stance recently put forth by the American Astronomical Society that also calls for a global ban on obtrusive space billboards. Whats more, the COPUOS delegates ostensibly responsible for addressing the problem dont usually meet on an emergency basis.Thats my fearif somebody launches something tomorrow, it could be the better part of a year before there is even an opportunity to react to it, Barentine says. We stand a better chance of keeping the genie from getting out of the bottle by the biggest world power saying, This is something we do not want.The Wild Wild WestIn pushing for a global ban on space billboards, Barentine, Benvenuti and other astronomers are eager to get ahead of issue rather than respond retroactively, as they were forced to do back in 2019 when light pollution from the first batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites stunned them with brighter-than-expected streaks in telescope images. It was just this wake-up call, Barentine says. It got us thinking about going on offense and start anticipating whats coming next.Sitnikov remains undeterred by objections from the scientific community, maintaining that StartRocket and Avant Spaces ads would only be switched on during dawn and dusk and only over major cities, thereby avoiding remote areas where telescopes are typically hosted and the dark hours when most astronomical observations are carried out. It is very strange to blame us, he says.Once deployed in orbit, however, these satellites would reflect sunlight particularly strongly during twilight hours, which would still degrade observations of current and forthcoming ground-based telescopes, leading to a loss of discoveries and increased bogus alerts. Moreover, the radio transmissions required for the satellites to communicate with apps on cell phones must be so strong that even the slightest leakage outside their designated frequency band would be enough to drown out very faint radio signals from celestial objects that astronomers seek. Such a purposeful change of the night sky into a canvas for commercial advertising is a terrifying problem for astronomy research, says astronomer Samantha Lawler of the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. But we have nothing beyond asking nicelyits very frustrating.Beyond impacting telescope observations, flying a swarm of satellites intended for space-based advertising would undoubtedly complicate efforts to manage traffic in low-Earth orbit. This region of space around Earth is home to thousands of defunct rocket stages, dead satellites and discarded hardware that all zip around our planet at dangerously high speeds. On top of this, there are millions of ultrasmall yet lethal pieces of trash that scientists are still learning to detect and track, which makes it particularly tricky to dodge debris while holding the precise satellite formation needed to display ads. If you hit the wrong point, its not just a hole in your advertisementit would create a huge debris cloud, says Jan Siminski, who monitors potential debris collisions for satellites operated by the European Space Agency. All this is further complicated by the fact that satellite operators across nations lack a unified platform to communicate and handle the hundreds of collision alerts they receive daily. Instead they rely on e-mails and phone calls to gather crucial information to manage their assets, such as whether objects on a collision course can even be maneuvered and, if so, which party should swerve, Siminski says. It is really like the Wild Wild West.Companies that hope to profit from conspicuous celestial commercials are exploiting the ambiguity in current space law regarding what constitutes light pollution from outer space, says astronomer Aaron C. Boley of the Outer Space Institute. The U.N.s Outer Space Treaty, the foundational document that governs how nations act in space, states that outer space shall be free for exploration. But purposefully shining bright lasers from space is clearly a loophole right now, Boley says. Until the current space law is amendedwhich could take years, if not decadesthe burden falls on governments to make judgment calls to regulate companies operating in their respective nations.Space brings huge benefits to society, and we dont want to screw that up, Boley says. Fundamentally, we have hard choices to make about what we allow to happen in space and what we dont allow because it is a shared resourceand it is finite.
