No Billboards in Space

An anonymous reader writes "CNN is reporting that the Federal Aviation Administration proposed Thursday to amend its regulations to ensure that it can enforce a law that prohibits 'obtrusive' advertising in zero gravity." From the article: "For instance, outsized billboards deployed by a space company into low Earth orbit could appear as large as the moon and be seen without a telescope, the FAA said. Big and bright advertisements might hinder astronomers."

Comments

Re:Huh?

[daveo0331]

The U.S. can't unilaterally say "no billboards in space" but they can certainly say things like "US based companies can't put billboards in space" or "no launching rockets from US territory to put a billboard in space" or similar things. Also, outlawing it here in the US could be a step toward getting other countries and/or international organizations to outlaw the practice too. Then if you wanted to put a billboard in space, you'd have to launch it from someplace like North Korea or Syria or international waters (but your ship couldn't be registered in a country that signed onto the treaty), and once in orbit it would last about 10 minutes before a UN missile shot it down (as agreed previously in a UN resolution).

So yes, if just the US outlaws this, it's silly, but it could be a step toward something more meaningful.