Billboards can now also be “placed” in Earth orbit to be seen for hundreds of kilometres

The idea proposed by Russian scientists is also backed up with a feasibility study suggesting the use of reflective micro-satellites, arranged as “pixels” in Earth orbit to form temporary advertising messages, visible for hundreds of kilometres.

The system based on the use of CubeSat satellites placed in low-altitude orbits will be able to be scaled according to the advertising budget allocated by the client, with the size and clarity of the message increasing as the number of “pixels” rented increases.

The good news is that the system based on satellites coated with highly reflective materials relies on sunlight, operating only for a short time at sunset and sunrise. Thus, the night will remain “unpolluted” with advertisements in the sky.

According to the published study, such a+ business can be started at relatively low cost, with the initial expense of launching the micro-satellite fleet later recouped from the millions of dollars earned by selling advertising space in the sky.

Unlike ordinary communications satellites, those used to compose advertising messages will be placed in orbits synchronized with the twilight zone. In this way, the broadcast message will appear in the sky at exactly the right time, moving in the direction in which the sun has just set. Instead, the relative position of the satellites to the sun remains fixed, keeping the message visible to observers in the next time zone.

Controlled either by selective masking of the reflecting panels, or by physical repositioning of the micro-satellites in orbit, the advertising service will be able to be rented to display different messages depending on the geographical region of the target audience.