Re: SPACE: Lunar Billboard?

James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Thu, 26 Dec 1996 18:40:45 -0800

At 03:47 PM 12/26/96 -0500, you wrote:
>As I was riding home from my parents' house last night after celebrating
>another nice Christmas, I was struck by the bright, full moon shining in
>the clear night. I guess my subconscious thoughts did some some strange
>wanderings, and somewhere along the way the idea popped into my head of
>using the Moon as a huge billboard. This way, some intrepid group of
>entrepreneurs could sell advertising space and use the proceeds to fund
>the cost of establishing a lunar base. I envision the billboard as a
>huge digital screen, composed of huge banks of displays which form the
>equivalent of pixels. This way the ad could be changed as often as
>necessary to maximize the number of corporate sponsors.
>
>I'd be interested in finding out if anyone else has already come up with
>plans for this. Just for kicks, I'd also appreciate your evaluation of
>the feasibility of this venture. For example, how big would the board
>need to be to be visible, could we use solar power to power it, etc.
>

I have a simpler technique. Why not use visible wavelength lasers to
"paint" a billboard on the moon? It would be a lot cheaper.

-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com