# Moonvertising! Is it for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090 "2008-03-04T20:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/21 "2008-03-05T15:30:20Z")
It’s funny, it seems intuitively feasible, doesn’t it? The moon _seems like_ a little rock not very far away. When I opened this thread I immediately thought “advertising on the moon, really!?” then immediately realised how gullible I was being. [QUOTE=Krokodil] Let’s say it is. They could project a message on the Moon’s surface. You wouldn’t be able to clearly see it without a telescope. … If an image were feasible, it would have to be a very simple one, like the Volkswagen logo and no info about any of their products. VW has better, cheaper venues for advertising. [/QUOTE] Advertising on the moon would bring incredible exposure to the product, even if it was a tiny blip that you needed a $1000 telescope to see. But yeah, at all-the-money-in-the-world, it’s not the most cost-effective means of advertising… ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/22 "2008-03-05T23:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Read Asimov’s story, “Buy Jupiter!” [/QUOTE] Or Heinlein’s [The Man Who Sold the Moon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_Moon). (He was using black dust instead of a laser, but still…) ---
**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:** [March 6, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/23 "2008-03-06T00:04:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Or Heinlein’s The Man Who Sold the Moon. (He was using black dust instead of a laser, but still…) Actually, the way Heinlein’s hero did it, it required (almost) no effort at all, since what he actually sold was the rights to _not_ use the Moon for advertising. So he got the money, the company involved got publicity, and nobody had to do anything with the actual Moon itself. To put things in perspective, NASA does shine lasers at the moon, and get reflected light back. But they have to bounce the light off of mirrored retroreflectors left behind by the Apollo astronauts, and use a huge telescope to detect the reflections, and they still count the reflection in terms of individual photons that they get back. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/24 "2008-03-06T02:01:05Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] Or Heinlein’s [The Man Who Sold the Moon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_Moon). (He was using black dust instead of a laser, but still…) [/QUOTE] Or Roger McGough’s poem "[Mad Ad](http://members.lycos.nl/englishteacher/resume.html) ". (Hideous page, but figured I shouldn’t repost the poem here – it’s on the right side, second poem down under McGough’s name). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/25 "2008-03-06T13:48:32Z")
Of course Wiki has an [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_advertising) on it, complete with references to legislation. > [@](#): > > [U.S. Code, Title 49, Section 70102](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/49/subtitles/ix/chapters/701/sections/section_70102.html) > > In this chapter- > > […] > > (8) “obtrusive space advertising” means 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. And later on, there’s > [@](#): > > [U.S. Code, Title 49, Section 70109a](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/49/subtitles/ix/chapters/701/sections/section_70109a.html) > > Section 70109a. Space advertising > > ``` > (a) Licensing. - Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter > or any other provision of law, the Secretary may not, for the > launch of a payload containing any material to be used for the > purposes of obtrusive space advertising - > (1) issue or transfer a license under this chapter; or > (2) waive the license requirements of this chapter. > > (b) Launching. - No holder of a license under this chapter may > launch a payload containing any material to be used for purposes of > obtrusive space advertising. > (c) Commercial Space Advertising. - Nothing in this section shall > apply to nonobtrusive commercial space advertising, including > advertising on - > (1) commercial space transportation vehicles; > (2) space infrastructure payloads; > (3) space launch facilities; and > (4) launch support facilities. > > ``` Agree, it doesn’t seem to ban projecting images on the moon from the Earth, but at least the issue of commercial space advertising is covered. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/26 "2008-03-06T22:19:11Z")
(1) commercial space transportation vehicles; wait so that means that commercial space travel cant happen unless that gets recharted? ---
**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:** [March 7, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/27 "2008-03-07T00:32:18Z")
> [@](#): > > wait so that means that commercial space travel cant happen unless that gets recharted? Quite the opposite. What that’s saying is that that statute has no problem with commercial space vehicles with advertising on them. Presumably, there would also be no problem with commercial vehicles without advertising. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090/28 "2008-03-07T12:45:11Z")
So, if a company wanted to print “Budweiser” or “Verizon” on one side of the ISS and had the money to do it they could? Whose authorization would that involve (assuming the country building that particular module already authorized it)? Would the other ISS people have to approve it as well? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonvertising-is-it-for-real/440090.md?page=1)