Advertisements in space: a creative way to solve energy problems?

We came across an article in which a group of mathematicians advocate for the viability of advertising from space using satellites. But how space advertisements can help with the energy crisis?

The current state of space advertisement 

Space flights have always attracted public attention. Like any entertainment event, they quickly charmed commercial companies interested in promoting their brands. From the flight of Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama to the Mir space station, when the Tokyo Broadcasting System logo was displayed on the launch vehicle, to the launch of the Tesla Roadster instead of the payload mock-up for the test Falcon Heavy rocket - there have been numerous examples of space advertisements. Most often, this is a demonstration of a logo on a rocket during its launch, which has become commonplace, or the promotion of a product with the participation of astronauts in orbit (examples: pepsi, pizza, milk, 3d printer).

By SpaceX - Falcon Heavy Demo Mission

There have been attempts and large-scale campaigns aimed exclusively at advertising. France's “Ring of Light” Project (1989) was intended to launch a ring of 100 reflectors that would link together, reflecting the sun's light to the 100th anniversary of the building of the Eiffel Tower. SpaceX and Canadian startup Geometric Energy Corporation planned to launch a satellite that would broadcast ads from space via a pixelated screen. All these projects were not completed due to technical difficulties.

Space advertisement: new ideas 

The previously proposed space advertising concepts need to be revised on a small scale or rely on cumbersome technical solutions. Recently, an article was published in a peer-reviewed Aerospace journal, where the problem was approached with mathematical precision and thoroughness. How else can it be in the space industry?

The authors suggest a complex 50-satellite system, or a swarm, orbiting the Earth on a Sun-synchronous orbit.  Such satellites are to be equipped with reflective screens to catch sunlight and to be visible from Earth as a bright constellation in the form of an pixelated image ordered by the advertiser. The image is displayed for up to ten minutes, then satellites turn their mirrors to advertise in the next city on their way. The swarm was modelled with the choice of optimal orbits, accounting for satellite fuel consumption, the population of target cities, outdoor advertising prices, and much more. 

The cost of the advertising mission considered as an example is estimated at $65M. Revenue projections are based on statistical data on the cost of outdoor advertising in the city, the size of the population, and factors that limit the potential audience such as the weather and distribution of city residents by age cohorts. Numerical simulations show that a space advertising mission can generate $2M in daily revenue, which compares well to TV ads during a football broadcast. This translates into a payback period of one month. Since the satellites can hover in space for 3 months before they run out of fuel, each ad campaign can return roughly 2-3 times the budget to the swarm's operator. A couple of companies (e. g. Startrocket and Avantspace) are already pursuing the opportunity.

Space Advertisement idea by Avant Space

Space solar stations and mirrors as a satellite swarm?

Reading about a swarm of robotic satellites that reflect sunlight to a given point, we thought about solar space stations, which we already wrote about in one of our previous articles. Solar panels can convert not only direct sunlight into electricity but also concentrated light from mirrors. These mirrors can be located both on large structures or on individual satellites - robots that make up a swarm. Mirrors under certain conditions can make more sense than solar panels. They are cheaper, lighter, and more durable than solar panels and are less susceptible to degradation from ionizing radiation and micrometeorites or space debris. At the same time, a certain amount of solar panels is still needed to convert light into electricity in the focal plane.

What if instead of a solar panel in space, the mirrors would illuminate directly an object on the ground, like a city or an industrial object? This idea was proposed in the 1980s. Solar illumination by means of mirrors in space wins several aspects compared to illumination by electric lights powered by solar space energy. First, there are no energy conversion steps, which number at least to 4 in the latter case: solar light-electricity-microwave-electricity-LED. The elimination of conversion leads to increased efficiency, simplification of technical solutions, and lower capital investments. No need for gigawatt-scale lasers or microwave guns. Second, there is no need to focus laser or microwave radiation onto a small receiver. Here would be rather an opposite effect: solar light reflected from a relatively small area of mirrors would have to be scattered over a larger city area.

Proposal to build a solar power station in space by Zureli

We believe that it’s time to merge the ideas. Why not make solar illumination from space mirrors in the shape of a logo? This would help to make the crazy futuristic idea of space illumination profitable - just like advertising made search engines profitable and free for all of us some time ago. This would not require large mirror areas on orbit: illuminance for twilight conditions is 1000 times less than daytime illuminance. Thanks to the sensitivity of our eyes we still perceive such small illuminance as enough to navigate, drive or read. Therefore, the total area of mirrors needed to illuminate would be 1000 smaller than the area of a city. 

Are we technologically ready?

Yes! With falling launch costs, complex satellite constellations are now a reality. Rocket Lab has already sent a reflective sphere, the Humanity Star, into orbit. With nanosecond-level time synchronization and a chip-scale atomic clock, centimeter-level relative satellite navigation accuracy in real time is about to come.

Riley Christie took this impressive photo in Penticton of the newly launched Starlink satellites crossing Okanagan night skies. (Facebook)

Criticism: obtrusiveness, light pollution, increase in space debris

There’s been plenty of criticism and discussions on space advertisement since Startrocket and Avantspace began their media activity, which was dubbed Space graffiti. The projects came under a lot of heat due to concerns about obtrusiveness, light pollution, an increase in the amount of space debris on low-orbits, and a lack of legal regulation.

We disagree. The satellites can be visible around dawn or dusk when they are not in the Earth's shadow. As a result, the display of advertising at night is excluded: the image will light up shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset. In addition, economic considerations make the technology applicable primarily in large cities, where in any case there is a constant illumination of the sky from the ground. For cities in Scandinavia and Canada, advertisements made by natural sunlight causing prolonged twilight in winter will bring more comfort and vitamin D, than harm. In this case, advertising will be perceived not so much as an imposition, but as a positive PR. How much electricity would it save?

An illustration of junk revolving around Earth. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

As to space debris, we envision that relatively simple orbital reflectors are ideal objects to be made out of recycled defunct satellites. This would be an excellent use case for space debris startups. To make the swarm more durable than three months, it can be periodically supported by a re-fueling mission. This will reduce the amount of debris in orbit associated with maintaining continuous advertisement service.

Space activity is often an advertisement itself: look at how Blue Origin and SpaceX influence Amazon and Tesla's reputation. In this article, we outlined our vision of how such diverse activities in space such as advertising and solving sustainability problems can generate synergy. We are confident there are more win-win cases like this. We invite you to brainstorm together to gain more thrilling ideas. Please email alexandra@spaceambition.org.