When You Wish Upon a Shooting … Satellite?

In May of 2021, I was leaving my junior prom with my friends. As we were standing outside talking, we noticed that there appeared to be a blinking line of bright lights high up in the night sky. Almost star-like, the lights soared high above us – about 100 of these blinking lights traveling in a straight line across the sky. Despite our joking theories of alien invasion surrounding the strange lights we witnessed in the sky, I later read an article about a series of Starlink Satellites synchronizing their orbit that had traveled across the US that night causing many to report strange lights in the sky.

Even though I thought it was fascinating that satellite technology had advanced so far enough that wireless internet could now be beamed down into homes, I also remember thinking how odd it was that the night sky now had the possibility to be filled with hundreds – if not thousands – of star-like satellites. I had forgotten about my experience with seeing the Starlink Satellites until I read an article about the possibility of space advertising. While the thought of projecting ads from Low Earth orbit may seem too far-fetched, Kristen Houser who writes for the technology publication Big Think wrote that for 65 million dollars, a company could deploy satellites that would utilize sun-reflecting technology to function as an array of pixels. It is estimated the orbiting satellites acting as a drone light show could last one to three months and generate 2 million dollars per day. As the means for “orbiting billboards” becomes incredibly lucrative, advertisement firms and large corporations alike would be able to advertise from city to city, state to state, and feasibly, country to country.

In 1993, Senator Ed Markey (D–MA) sponsored a bill to outright ban commercial advertisements in space. This bill was introduced but never passed. In both 2018 & 2019 two similar bills – The Space Frontiers Acts – were proposed in an attempt to regulate the commercial space industry. Despite backing from members of both parties, neither bill was passed. There is only one explicit law in the US legal code (51 US Code 50911 est. in 2010) that states that no US license for the launch of a satellite can be issued if the purpose of the satellite(s) is for commercial space advertisement. While there is US legal precedence barring space advertising, the emergence of privatized space companies along with the fact that there are 15 other nations with launch-capable space programs provide several avenues of operation to circumnavigate these restrictions.

Satellite use impacts many different sectors of American industry and daily life. Some concerns with using satellites in space for advertising vary in affected populations: increased amount of space junk orbiting earth, hindrance of scientific study of the night sky from earth, large increases in light pollution, encroachment of satellites over areas that do not welcome the practice of orbital advertising, interruptions to cultural practices, and even distracting individuals from carrying out their tasks (drivers for example). The many environmental and societal impacts of Low Earth orbit commercial advertising units need consideration before this practice is implemented. In an age of growing interest in space by countries and corporations alike, regulations are necessary to protect both communities and the environment from the potential dangers associated with billboards in the sky.