Space billboards using satellites can project ads worldwide at $65m and turn profit, study says

Experts have warned of space billboards leading to problems caused by light pollution

Billboards in space that are made using a swarm of about 50 satellites, can provide global coverage of advertisements and potentially turn a profit at a cost of $65m, a new study has estimated.

The research, recently published in the journal Aerospace, calculated the feasibility of satellite formation-flying missions for space advertising.

Space-based advertising has been discussed since the Apollo Moon launch era, and current approaches include adding logos on rockets, providing branded food delivery to the International Space Station and even a car being launched to space.

Scientists, including those from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, said long term advertisements would rely on a “complex satellite system” orbiting the Earth and demonstrating images to observers on Earth.

In the new study, they assessed the technical and economical viability of space advertising using a formation of solar sail-equipped small satellites.

A swarm of about 50 small satellites entering a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500-1,000km, where they would be in direct sunlight at all times as they pass around the Earth, could make the idea technically feasible, said researchers.

Once in orbit, these satellites would deploy their reflectors and shine sunlight down Earth to the area they are soaring over for about five minutes.

At lower orbits, scientists said the mission lifetime could suffer from excessive fuel expenditure to counteract effects of atmospheric drag.

The best strategy for making the idea economically feasibile, they said, is to target these space ads at megacities with large populations.

The month in which the space advertisement is projected should be considered since the likelihood of viewing any outdoor demonstration reduces in winter due to weather conditions.

“Given the altitude range, there remain two possible orbits to be used – the one that performs 15 revolutions per day and has 568.13km altitude and another that performs 14 revolutions per days and has an altitude of 895.45km,” researchers wrote in the study.

The latter can be chosen as it offers a larger access area, yielding “greater mission revenue,” they say.

While satellites covering larger ground areas as they sweep through the sky could project the ads to more people, scientists said this could also dim the demonstrated image.

An optimum mission of this kind could cost about $65m, with the manufacturing costs for 50 satellites ($48.7m) making up the biggest fraction of expenditure, and the engineering, testing, support and launch making up the remaining costs.

With a satellite formation operating for about 91 days, they said nearly 24 image demonstrations can be performed, collecting a net income of nearly $111m.

While the study assessed the feasibility of a billboard in space, experts have also warned such missions could contribute to problems caused by light pollution and threaten the ability to conduct astronomical research from the ground.

“From adding to the erasure of our night sky heritage to being a threat to the ability to do astronomical research from the ground, dark sky advocates & astronomy experts explain why billboards in space will contribute to problems caused by light pollution,” US-based nonprofit International Dark-Sky Association had said.