# Could I Use The Moon as a Billboard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687 "2018-08-15T21:01:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/1 "2018-08-15T21:01:21Z")
Let’s say someone invents a ridiculously high powered projector. With this new tech, Coca-cola decide to do a Christmas publicity stunt in which they illuminate the face of the moon with their branding. Is there an international law that would stop them? What would the penalty be? Optional extra question: how close are we to the technology needed to achieve this? I’m guessing out powering the sun would be pretty difficult but of course there’s always the new moon. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/2 "2018-08-15T21:07:24Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Let’s say someone invents a ridiculously high powered projector. With this new tech, Coca-cola decide to do a Christmas publicity stunt in which they illuminate the face of the moon with their branding. > > Is there an international law that would stop them? What would the penalty be? > > Optional extra question: how close are we to the technology needed to achieve this? I’m guessing out powering the sun would be pretty difficult but of course there’s always the new moon. I’m just going to answer the optional question. We are nowhere near capable of doing this. Probably best answered with this ‘what-if’ xkcd. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/3 "2018-08-15T22:29:31Z")
Coca-Cola? No, everyone knows that 6+ beat them to it. ---
**Author:** ![joema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@joema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joema)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/4 "2018-08-15T22:51:21Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Let’s say someone invents a ridiculously high powered projector. With this new tech, Coca-cola decide to do a Christmas publicity stunt in which they illuminate the face of the moon with their branding…how close are we to the technology needed to achieve this?.. This was discussed here; it doesn’t seem remotely possible with current technology. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7658662&postcount=28](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7658662&postcount=28) Since the above 2006 post, it appears technology for visible light continuous lasers might have improved 2x, to about 1,000 watts. This is still many orders of magnitude lower than required to project a pattern on the dark (or “new”) moon which would be visible from earth. Projecting a pattern visible on the lighted part of the moon would be even more difficult. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/5 "2018-08-15T23:02:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Coca-Cola? No, everyone knows that 6+ beat them to it. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/6 "2018-08-15T23:04:54Z")
You might enjoy reading “The Face” by Jack Vance in which someone far away and far into the future does that. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/7 "2018-08-15T23:11:45Z")
How about if we put a satellite in lunar orbit to do the projecting? Is that doable, or at least in any way easier? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/8 "2018-08-16T00:28:45Z")
“The man who sold the moon” by Robert Heinlein ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/9 "2018-08-16T00:31:21Z")
I think we’re enough posts in that I can observe that a “Fiendish Astronaut” is wondering about profitable uses for the moon. Well played, NASA man. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/10 "2018-08-16T01:25:50Z")
Even if we had the technology to do it, I would think the FAA wouldn’t be happy about it… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/11 "2018-08-16T01:53:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Coca-Cola? No, everyone knows that 6+ beat them to it. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/12 "2018-08-16T01:55:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Coca-Cola? No, everyone knows that 6+ beat them to it. That’s why when I saw a story titled “6+” I knew just how the plot was going to be resolved. Now in a Fredric Brown story, someone used the stars for a billboard. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/13 "2018-08-16T02:09:40Z")
Arthur C. Clarke’s [Venture To The Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_to_the_Moon)tells how a scientific experiment conducted on the moon - creating a giant sodium cloud that is made luminescent by the sun’s rays and visible from Earth - is sabotaged by “the greatest advertising coup” in history. The cloud takes the shape of a product’s logo. The product isn’t directly named but contains a number of C’s and O’s. Fiendish, I’m guessing this inspired your question, right? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/14 "2018-08-16T02:44:17Z")
You’ll have to erase the giant “CHA” that’s already on there first. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/15 "2018-08-16T03:10:23Z")
Does anyone else remember a news story from some years back about Pizza Hut wanting to etch their logo into the moon with a giant laser? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/16 "2018-08-16T04:57:47Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That’s why when I saw a story titled “6+” I knew just how the plot was going to be resolved. Did someone actually write a story with that title? > [@](#): > > Now in a Fredric Brown story, someone used the stars for a billboard. Buy[sup]1[/sup] Jupiter, you’re right. That’s not just a pie in the sky. [sup]1[/sup] Not a typo. Who gets this one?[sup]2[/sup] [sup]2[/sup] More [stories](http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/advertising) on this theme. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/17 "2018-08-16T05:29:27Z")
I don’t understand this 6+ thing. Could someone explain, please. (I’m British, BTW. Maybe a part of American popular culture that isn’t well known over here.) And, yes, I’ve read Asimov’s Buy Jupiter. ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/18 "2018-08-16T05:31:44Z")
Does it matter that it’s not physically possible right now? OP’s question is within a context where it is feasible. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/19 "2018-08-16T05:54:25Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I don’t understand this 6+ thing. Could someone explain, please. In Robert Heinlein’s _The Man Who Sold the Moon_, Harriman is going all out to raise funds for his moon shot. He cons the CEO of Moka-Cola into contributing by entering his office wearing a lapel pin for 6+, his main competitor. Harriman claims that 6+ (name based on 7-up, the soft drink) has offered money to place their logo on the moon with carbon black. So the CEO pays more for Harriman to not do that. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687/20 "2018-08-16T06:26:27Z")
Thanks for the info. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-use-the-moon-as-a-billboard/819687.md?page=2)