Space stencil - shadows on the moon

If i build a big (or perhaps not even so big) stencil in planetary orbit, for one minute on one day could i have my name shadowed onto the moon for the planet to see?

Is that possible at all?

Would it be cheaper to put a moon sized LCD screen on the moon instead? you know for like breaking world even news and such, or where the next warewolf meet up is.

If coca cola see this idea and do it, to everyone: im so so sorry.

Congratulations. You've just upset everyone on earth who like the moon the way it is... Without people's names or advertising on it.

reply to post by Biigs

Oh great... You do that and then Coke does it, then Pepsi and before you know it, the Man in the Moon is the backdrop to a 24/7 display of commercials ..brought to you by the Lunar Advertising Council, of course!

Seriously though, I think if this could be done? It literally would be by now. Marketing knows no limits. I'd read in a book about MIR that a part of the food which took valuable space on their supply ships was advertiser specials which they couldn't open or touch for any reason until the proper commercial had been made and produced. All because the Russian program is run on duct tape and bailing wire for funding. Then again...ours isn't exactly cash rich either, but I thought it showed how far they'll take whatever they can do.

It is kind of a cool idea to imagine for just the way you'd describe it tho... S/F for that.

I think it would be more fun to take a little rocket into space, put a bigfoot costume on, and float in front of the hubble telescope real quick.

reply to post by Biigs


If it is.... Stencil the "Bat Signal" so we can blame it on Hefficide~

reply to post by DaRAGE


Explanation: Uhmmm?

Nope! ... I was already pissed EVERYTIME some space organization LITTERED on the MOON!

Personal Disclosure: It is TRASHED already! :shk:

P.S. As for advertizing on the Moon ... The laws of space are not enforcable and my reply to my own thread here proves that fact ...

Did Nasa STEAL luna rocks from the moon? (by OmegaLogos posted on 25-10-2011 @ 06:23 AM) [ATS]

Explanation: Cool! If the UN laws aren't applicable I am completly fine with that! [I have been reading the pdf's and they are completely contradictory and not worth enforcing even if ratified! ]

Personal Disclosure: Well if Nasa found a loophole in corrupt laws ... then good on them! But BOO to the UN!

Seems my claim has been successfully FOOMED by my fellow members!

... Take the issue up with the UN! :bnghd:

reply to post by Biigs


There's an easier way to do it:



www.universetoday.com...

A new company is looking to sell advertising on the Moon. No, not with giant billboards, but by a new technology called Shadow Shaping that can creates images with robots that carve small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names or memorials.

“Never in the history of advertising has the possibility of penetrating every market on Earth, reaching every person on the planet, and touching them at emotional level only possible with the beauty of the moon on a starlit night, been made available,” says the website for Moon Publicity. “Twelve billion eyeballs looking at your logo in the sky for several days every month for the next several thousand years.”

Bid now for this exclusive ad space, starting at $46,000 (USD).

www.moonpublicity.com...

well, there is a website advertising the same thing the OP talks about. Google "Moon Publicity", but you can read a lot more on Wiki.
en.wikipedia.org...

Personally I would hate it.

Originally posted by Biigs
If i build a big (or perhaps not even so big) stencil in planetary orbit, for one minute on one day could i have my name shadowed onto the moon for the planet to see?

A stencil wouldnt be enough, because the sun isnt a point source of light, and you'd just get a blur unless the stencil was so closeto the moon that it was blocking the very view of the shadow you wanted everyone to see.

See a lunar eclipse for the kind of blurry edges I'm talking of.

But
it would work if you also had a huge shadecloth the size of the moon, and a lens the size of a small country. Then you could focus the message to pinpoint accuracy.

-----

Having said that, there is also another way.
A HUGE array of mirrors (again, about the size of a small country) here on earth could reflect your message back onto the darkened side of the moon during its "new moon" phase.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by Biigs
If i build a big (or perhaps not even so big) stencil in planetary orbit, for one minute on one day could i have my name shadowed onto the moon for the planet to see?

A stencil wouldnt be enough, because the sun isnt a point source of light, and you'd just get a blur unless the stencil was so closeto the moon that it was blocking the very view of the shadow you wanted everyone to see.

See a lunar eclipse for the kind of blurry edges I'm talking of.

But
it would work if you also had a huge shadecloth the size of the moon, and a lens the size of a small country. Then you could focus the message to pinpoint accuracy.

-----

Having said that, there is also another way.
A HUGE array of mirrors (again, about the size of a small country) here on earth could reflect your message back onto the darkened side of the moon during its "new moon" phase.

excellent points.

okay what about a very large lens and a small "batsignal" type message in a silhouette (thank you for that moon batsignal hell yes!) making the message 'brighter than background' when focused, or the invert of that and a more 'precision' shadow effect could it be done?!

im looking to any opticians in the audience

I thought about the lenses you get for cheap laser pens and how easily and so very intensely bright and sharp the projection is, surly somthing could be done with that on the moon, or just point it at earth and burn a 400 mile smile face into some GM weeds some where 'er sorry, i mean GM crops.

woa wait a second.....

if we cant produce laser effects because of the sheer size and contrast of the moon when its in full moon, what about when its in shadow?

Would a laser work then?!

for some reason i was only thinking of when the moon was out! putting a green filter over the whgole moon for st. patricks day would rock too.

advertise the moon!

pay me!.

Originally posted by Biigs
okay what about a very large lens and a small "batsignal" type message in a silhouette

The moon is about the size of North America, so one presumes that if you had a perfect mirror the size of North America, then the moon could be lit up so it appears to be the same brightness as the earth.

But if you just wanted the batsignal (bright background, shadow in the middle), then you only need a mirror about 50 percent of the size of North America.

Now of course can go for a dimmer signal... so maybe just a mirror/lens arrangement the size of Texas.
That should be enough.

Edit - actually realised the moon rocks are really quite dark, and dont reflect light as well as the earth. So maybe you'll need an arrangement somewhat bigger.

Over on another thread, it was calculated that if you wanted to power your illumination from earth, to get 5% of the moon lit up, you'd need...

one billion megawatts.
It takes about 200,000 barrels of oil per second