On Wednesday the public relations department of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow issued a news release with a provocative t

Who is ready for a fleet of cubesats flying over cities, displaying ads?

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2022-10-06 00:30:28

On Wednesday the public relations department of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow issued a news release with a provocative title: "Ad-block this: Space advertisers ready to display commercials in the sky."

The basis for the news release is a study in the journal Aerospace. Its authors assess the technical feasibility of flying satellites in formation, in space, to reflect sunlight and display commercials in the sky above cities. The authors wondered whether satellites could fly long enough, and in enough different formations over various cities, to make money back from advertising to cover their development and launch costs.

Their findings are positive, the researchers report, writing in their paper, "An unrealistic idea as it may first seem, space advertising turns out to have a potential for commercial viability." The optimum size of such a formation is about 50 cubesats, of the 12U variety that individually measure about 34 cm×20 cm, with an operating lifetime of about three months.

To optimize the economics of the satellite formation, the team chose to fly an orbit over large and densely populated cities, displaying an ad for one minute before moving to the next city. The Russian researchers calculate that the daily space advertising revenue would reach approximately $2 million. They estimate that a single mission operating for 91.5 days could generate a net income of $111.6 million after expenses.

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