WASHINGTON — 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.
The day the night sky fills with billboards is the day I switch from “I really hope we as a species can get better” to “I really hope we as a species become extinct soon.”
Worry not astronomers! AI space tech companies are already working hard on telescopes on moon which you can access via a monthly subscription! Hurray! /s
If I see your shit advertised in space I will never buy your product again.
Hell yeah.
I will not buy anything from any company that puts advertising in space. I will also make it my life’s work to persuade everyone else likewise.
Agreed.
We’re 43 people already, the remaining 95% will continue to buy it anyway because…
- It just tastes better
- It can’t be that bad
- It’s convenient
- I’ve always bought that
- I have nothing to hide
Pick as many as you like. More than just dissuading people, I think it’s high time to sabotage and destruct.
TIL 43 people are 5% of the world population…
Also, how do you plan to sabotage space billboards?
The same way they’re planning to upload new ads.
Or his dataset consists of 860 people and only 43 said they’d boycott it.
Wahoo! 🔧💚🪠
I’ll try spinning, that’s a good trick!
Well, you wouldn’t sabotage the billboard. You would sabotage their factories until it costs them more than the billboard makes them. Make it unprofitable to create them.
These are exactly the reasons why people are still not boycotting Nestlé.
An older story, I know, but today was the first I heard of space-based advertising, and it made my blood boil a little.
To be clear, the infuriating part is people trying to put ads in the sky, not the astronomers fighting back, who are in fact awesome.
I don’t think it goes far enough. Satellites should not be allowed to arrange or emit for any aesthetics reason, advertising or not. They should be required to do everything they can to go unseen.
And the near-side of the moon should be preserved with bans on commercial activity and construction projects.
Or maybe just any that can be seen from earth, even with a telescope. If you can dig a tunnel and build an underground complex without the ports and vents being visible, then I guess that can be allowed. But that should be a negotiating chip, not a part of the first proposal.
Do all other advertising next
Its already at a point where I can’t take a long exposure without a dozen spacex satellites and other junk zooming through my frame. Light pollution is already at a tipping point where no stars are visible in or around large cities.
Support your local amateur astronomer club. Support the dark skies association.
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~~astronomers ~~ every human being
FTFY
Anyone read Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Watch This Space” where a giant Coke logo is lit up on the moon? It was meant to be funny, not instructional. Sigh. “Torment Nexus” and all that, I suppose.
This odd exactly like skywriting.
Once it got popular it got really popular for advertising, then people got mad and it was an affront to God and legislators were forced to shut it down.
But also, after the novelty it stopped being effective and it just made people angry.
Now, arguably 2026’s companies care less about making people mad than any time since like the coal wars. But I still think you can’t keep posting people off forever and expect good brand outcomes. And if you can, you don’t need ads do you?
the coal wars
This has nothing to do with sky advertising. It just made me a little happy to know that there’s at least one other person out in the world that’s read a history book at some point.
It doesn’t but I mean in a corporations not feeding any consequence way.
Obviously ads are not like company towns or the coal union suppression.
But I do think corporations were only more hostile to people in that era. And modern companies have zero fear of repercussions, because they face none.
Yeah, well.
Unfortunately it’s a deliberately untaught period in our history, so the vast majority of Americans have never heard of it and probably can’t conceive of literally going to war against corporations, so it makes me happy whenever I come across someone who’s aware of it.
Coke adds life…
[off topic]
“The Man Who Sold The Moon” by Robert Heinlein. Satire of big business written long before Sputnik. Am american hustler is raising money for a Lunar rocket. One of his pitches is that if the Soviets get there first they plan on putting a big hammer and sickle across the face of the moon.
Fun read.
Excerpt from “Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers”: For anyone living on Earth the result would be mindfizzlingly spectacular. One hundred and twenty-eight stars would appear to go supernova simultaneously, burning with such ferocity they would be visible even in daylight.
And the hundred and twenty-eight supernovae would spell out a message.
And this would be the message:
‘COKE ADDS LIFE!’
If we ban space advertising, then only criminals will be able to advertise in space.
What we need to fight bad advertisers in space is good advertisers in space.
This could be solved if we only allowed astronauts to conceal-carry ad-copy.
(I like to use gun arguments out of context, because it emphasizes how dumb they are.)
Conservatives watch too many westerns, where the good guy defeats the bad guy in a standoff.
This is completely unrealistic though, because a “bad guy with a gun” would just show up and start shooting before anyone even knows he has a gun. And by the time the good guy gets there, dozens of people would already be dead.
Also “good guy with a gun” reeks of vigilantism and copaganda. “Oh, thank god the sheriff is here to save the day! Oh… oh wait he’s just gonna abuse the laborers and move on, without bothering the evil mining baron who works them to death with impunity? OH GOD THEY’RE SHAKING HANDS! OH. OH NO. THE HUMANITY!!!”
Not to mention the casual racism that isn’t even subtle. “Those injuns live right over on the other side of that ridge! We gotta put a posse together to go kill their men and enslave their women and children.”
“Ahh, so these are the bad guys. When are the heroes going to show up to stop them?” … “Ohh noo, these are the “heroes”… 😫”
