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AAS Statement on Obtrusive Space Advertising
Adopted 22 October 2024
Considering that:
- The mission of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe as a diverse and inclusive astronomical community; and
- Increasing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe depends on clear and unobstructed views of the cosmos; and
- That enterprise is currently under threat from activities in space, including the proliferation of large satellite constellations; existing space debris and the potential for future debris-generating collisions; radiofrequency interference (RFI) and unintended electromagnetic radiation (UEMR); and
- Various nation-states and private commercial entities doing business in those countries have publicly expressed interest in launching payloads into space whose stated purpose is to function as platforms for displaying advertisements visible to observers on the ground by emitting optical light; and
- Avant-Space Systems LLC, a private entity incorporated in the Russian Federation, recently launched a prototype cubesat intended to demonstrate the feasibility of this technology; and
- This kind of use of outer space represents a presently unknown, but potentially serious, threat to the pursuit of astronomical discovery using ground-based facilities; and
- Astronomy is a form of “exploration and use of outer space” as contemplated by Article I of the Outer Space Treaty (OST); and
- Article IX of the OST requires that State parties exercise due regard for “other States Parties in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space” in limiting “potentially harmful interference” with their activities; and
- The kind of activity represented by obtrusive space advertising arguably constitutes “potentially harmful interference” with ground-based astronomy; and
- No known mitigation of such harmful interference enables the peaceful co-existence of obtrusive space advertising alongside astronomy consistent with Article IX; and
- The United States Congress has shown leadership in this arena by prohibiting the domestic licensing of launch, from its territory, of any “payload containing any material to be used for the purposes of obtrusive space advertising[1]” (51 U.S.C. §50911);
Be it resolved by the AAS Board of Trustees that:
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It is the position of the American Astronomical Society that obtrusive space advertising should be prohibited by appropriate international convention, treaty, or law; and
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The AAS urges the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS) to support such a prohibition.
[1] The law defines “obtrusive space advertising” as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognized by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.”