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.
If they block my stars I will go full terrorist.
They bomb kids daily and you’re complacent, you’re telling me if they added more ads you’re gonna finally revolt?
I don’t buy it.
If you had any idea how politically active I am you wouldn’t say something so idiotic. But there you go.
they only bomb kids in far-away lands, it’s abstract and easily put aside for most people.
i’m sure op is exaggerating but people not doing anything about genocide in gaza/lebanon but going on strike over e.g. gas prices is kinda expected human behavior sadly
We’re rounding up brown U.S. citizens and putting them in concentration camps right now. Except about 1/3 of us don’t believe it at all, and most of the rest of us think “concentration camps” is hyperbole, and maybe it’s “just people here illegally, so they deserve it.”
Almost no one is doing shit about it, including myself.
So, yeah, no one is going to go “full terrorist” if they start launching space ad satellites. I mean, what does that even mean? Discovering when they’re launching and sabotaging the rocket? Come on, no one is doing that.
It’s going to happen, it needs to happen first for anyone to react. But, since we’ve allowed billionaires to consolidate power amongst a handful of people, we’re not going to be able to stop them, without… well, use your imagination. It won’t be pretty.
But they won’t even strike over gas prices…
yeah the us really needs to build political consciousness and needs to organize. pretty much every western nation needs to! liberalism has really fucked us all over so badly
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.
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.
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”… 😫”
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!’
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.”
Too bad they have the requirement for a technological device. Else I’d be able to argue that I shouldn’t get any ads from satellite TV or when using Starlink or…
Pretty sure that would be advertising from space, rather than in space, which would definitely make a difference in this case
I think i might kill someone if i see an ad in the night sky
Please God no. This timeline is fucking horrible.
Is it time for molotovs yet?
I would say it’s long past time. Just waiting until ice kicks down my door and shoots my cats and puts a bag over my head with this post.
Oh please, y’all would talk about molotoves and guillotines everyday, yet none of you would do a thing.
So… yes?
Wild that you went from suggesting scalping to accusing others of incapacity for violence. When’s the last time you scalped someone, or were at least present when someone was scalped?
But seriously, don’t answer that. Admissions of arson and interpersonal violence don’t mean much anonymously online unless you bring receipts, but as anonymity isn’t actually anonymous, so dropping a Greatest Hits of crimes the state couldn’t prove at the time for clout is ill advised.
they shouldn’t seek a global ban on it?
I can see how my statement might have been a little confusing. I would absolutely love to see a global ban of advertising in space coupled with rockets that automatically fire and take out any space billboards that are snuck up there.
What about all the LEO internet satellites
The night sky used to be sacred.
Isn’t it lovely that we live in a world where we need a law to ban such a thing? It honestly already doesn’t matter anymore because when you look up at the sky you almost see more Starlink trash than stars…
BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE
Suggestion: Deploy anti satellite 🛰 weapon, and extort other nations by threatening their satellites in order to pay off the national debt. Somebody get Donald Trump on the phone.
I’m only half joking. Kessler syndrome is probably going to happen sooner or later anyway. And I do think it would be possible to convince Trump the scheme is a good idea if you had access to him.
Aliens: we come in peace
Scientists: can you help us with some of our problems? Maybe give us fusion power? Tell us about your culture?
Aliens: actually we came about the Coca-Cola.
~~astronomers ~~ every human being
FTFY
It’s about time.
Although honestly, with this government, all this might do is give them ideas…
They should add to it though. No construction projects or any commercial activity on the near-side of the moon.
