Imagine looking up to gaze at the moon on a clear summer night only to see the sky full of glowing advertising billboards. That’s the future envisioned by a Russian startup which plans to launch billboard advertisements into low-Earth orbit as early as 2021.

Russian company StartRocket announced plans to introduce orbital advertising billboards made up of a grid of tissue box-sized satellites called CubeSats. These tiny satellites will orbit 400-500 kilometers above Earth and use reflective Mylar sails around 9 meters in diameter to catch and reflect sunlight, creating a pixelated matrix. The ads would only be visible at night but could be seen from just about anywhere on the planet. The company already has a CubeSat prototype, and could start testing its sky advertisements next year.

“We are ruled by brands and events,” StartRocket project leader Vlad Sitnikov told Futurism. “The Super Bowl, Coca Cola, Brexit, the Olympics, Mercedes, FIFA, Supreme and the Mexican wall. The economy is the blood system of society. Entertainment and advertising are at its heart. We will live in space, and humankind will start delivering its culture to space. The more professional and experienced pioneers will make it better for everyone.”

However, not everyone agrees that having enormous billboard-style advertisements in the night sky will be good for everyone. Experts have argued that the bright ad banners could interfere with the ability to study the skies, or that the grid of satellites will eventually become space junk and potentially interfere with more significant space activity or aviation safety.

“Putting more satellites up there is going to cause more opportunities for collisions, and we don’t want that happening,” John Crassidis, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo, told NBC News. “My biggest issue is that these objects are going to become space junk. It’s not serving any good purpose outside of advertising, I’m not a big fan of this at all.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【聚酯薄膜 】jùzhǐ báomó Mylar the brand name for a special type of stretched polyester film

【碰撞 】pèngzhuàng collision an act of colliding, a crash

想象一下，在一个晴朗的夏日夜晚仰望明月，却看见满天都是闪闪发光的广告牌。这就是俄罗斯一家初创企业设想的未来。该公司计划最早于2021年将广告牌发射到近地轨道上。

俄罗斯公司StartRocket宣布，计划推出用纸巾盒大小的卫星CubeSat排列成的入轨广告牌。这些微型卫星将在地球上方400至500千米的高空运行，并用直径约9米的反射性聚酯薄膜帆布捕捉和反射太阳光，从而构建出像素矩阵。这些广告牌只有夜晚可见，但是在地球上几乎任何地方都能看得到。该公司已经有CubeSat的原型，明年就可能开始测试“天空广告”。

StartRocket公司的项目负责人弗拉德·西特尼科夫告诉Futurism网站说：“我们的生活被各种品牌和大事主导着。超级碗、可口可乐、英国脱欧、奥运会、梅赛德斯、国际足联、潮牌Supreme、墨西哥边境墙。经济是社会的血液系统。娱乐和广告是经济的中心。未来我们将生活在太空中，人类会开始将文化传送到太空。作为先驱者，我们越专业，越有经验，对大家越有好处。”

然而，不是所有人都认为在夜空中投放巨大的广告牌对大家都有利。专家指出，耀眼的广告牌会阻碍人类研究天空，而且这种卫星组最终会成为太空垃圾，可能会对更重要的太空活动或飞行安全造成干扰。

布法罗大学航天机械工程学教授约翰·克拉西迪斯告诉美国全国广播公司新闻网说：“将更多的卫星发射到空中会增加碰撞的机会，这是我们不想看到的。我最大的担忧是这些物体会成为太空垃圾。除了广告以外，这些物体毫无用处，总之我不看好这个项目。”(Chinadaily.com.cn)