Satellites intended only to project on Earth. A completely dystopian idea that some are seriously studying. And that might turn out to be cheaper than some TV commercials.
At a time of energy scarcity, and when we don’t even turn off the lights of our innumerable terrestrial billboards, launching into space would seem like a new aberration. Elon Musk has already thought about it, imagining a purely commercial satellite broadcasting in the night sky. for who could afford it. But this time, it is Russian researchers who have just looked very seriously at the subject.
Perfectly affordable for a multinational
Russian researchers from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) focused on the economics of this kind of plan for the comet, to try to find out if it would be worth it. pain or not. However, according to them, by putting into orbit a constellation of 50 modular pocket satellites of the CubeSat 12U type, we could at our leisure capture a little light to form a logo or slogan of your choice and project it towards a specific area of our planet, like a big city for example. The satellites would be de-orbited after 1 to 3 months.
According to the study, such a project would in fact cost “only” 65 million dollars, including 48.7 million for the manufacture of the 50 satellites, and another 4.8 million to put them into orbit. A trifle that some multinationals can easily afford. The Russian researchers then calculated the potential benefits behind a campaign of this type by taking into account the visibility of according to the population of the area concerned, and the number of campaigns redeemable by this system during the lifetime of the satellites.
Cheaper than a Super Bowl ad
And according to them, it would indeed be profitable: an mission projecting 24 campaigns to Earth could bring in $111.6 million, or $4.6 million per ad. It’s cheaper than a few seconds of flash on American television during the Super Bowl, specifies Lemon Squeezer.
The model remains of course theoretical, but as crazy as it is, this kind of project is of great interest to some, first and foremost the boss of SpaceX. And to think that this kind of idea was previously the most dystopian science fiction. Or an album by Spirou and Fantasio.