AdSat: Launching Space Advertising to the Next Level
- Paper number
IAC-09.D3.2.9
- Author
Mr. Jesse Koenig, Sierra Nevada Corp., United States
- Year
2009
- Abstract
From the Fisher Space Pen during the Apollo era, to Pizza Hut’s pizza delivery to the International Space Station, to Element21’s “Golf Shot Around the World”, commercial advertising has been a part of spaceflight. Now, as the world races to put humans back on the Moon, and as space tourism blossoms, AdSat will take space advertising to the next level. AdSat will be a low-cost microsatellite designed to launch as a secondary payload. It will fit within the RideShare Adapter (RSA) of the SpaceX Falcon 1 launch vehicle, and many other secondary payload slots too, since the RSA is one of the smallest. Its payload will comprise a ruggedized, sunlight-viewable LCD monitor along with a full color, high-definition camera. Photos and video can be uploaded to the spacecraft, displayed on the monitor, and captured by the camera, with beautiful views of Earth and Space in the background. The recordings will then be downloaded for use on web sites, television, billboards, etc. (With a single low-cost ground station, AdSat will be able to download 40 minutes of high-definition video or 3000 high-definition still images per day.) Primary users are expected to be major advertisers, and secondary users may be individuals. Pushing the boundaries of Commercial Space, AdSat will promote the excitement of Space among the public, and may lead the way for innovative funding strategies for space travel and exploration missions, such as the Google Lunar X Prize. Meanwhile, AdSat will provide a flexible spacecraft bus that may be used as a platform for other missions requiring 3-axis attitude control and high bandwidth ground communication along with low-cost launch as a secondary payload. This paper will describe technical and programmatic aspects of AdSat.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)