夜空中發光的不一定是星星：俄羅斯企業計劃將廣告打到天上去

一閃一閃亮晶晶，滿天都是廣告牌。未來世界的夜空恐怕會是這個樣子。

近日，俄羅斯一家公司宣佈將把廣告做到天上去，讓全世界的人們仰望夜空時都能看見。月朗星稀的好風景，可能將會成爲歷史。

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 start-up which plans to launch billboard advertisements into low-Earth orbit as early as 2021.

想象一下，在一個晴朗的夏日夜晚仰望明月，卻看見滿天都是閃閃發光的廣告牌。這就是俄羅斯一家初創企業設想的未來。該公司計劃最早於2021年將廣告牌發射到近地軌道上。

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 the Earth and use reflective Mylar sails around 30 feet 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.

俄羅斯公司StartRocket宣佈，計劃推出用紙巾盒大小的衛星CubeSat排列成的入軌廣告牌。這些微型衛星將在地球上方400至500千米的高空運行，並用直徑約30英尺（9米）的反射性聚酯薄膜帆布捕捉和反射太陽光，從而構建出像素矩陣。這些廣告牌只有夜晚可見，但是在地球上幾乎任何地方都能看得到。該公司已經有CubeSat的原型，明年就可能開始測試“天空廣告”。

Mylar['maɪ'lɑr]: n. 聚酯薄膜

"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.”

StartRocket公司的項目負責人弗拉德·西特尼科夫告訴Futurism網站說：“我們的生活被各種品牌和大事所主導着。超級碗、可口可樂、英國脫歐、奧運會、梅賽德斯、國際足聯、潮牌Supreme、墨西哥邊境牆。經濟是社會的血液系統。娛樂和廣告是經濟的中心。未來我們將生活在太空中，人類會開始將文化傳送到太空。作爲先驅者，我們越專業，越有經驗，對大家越有好處。”

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.

然而，不是所有人都贊成，在夜空中放多個巨大的廣告牌對大家都有利。專家指出，耀眼的廣告牌會阻礙人類研究天空，而且這種衛星網最終會成爲太空垃圾，可能會對更重要的太空活動或飛行安全造成干擾。

"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.”

布法羅大學航天機械工程學教授約翰·克拉西迪斯告訴美國全國廣播公司新聞網說：“將更多的衛星發射到空中會增加碰撞的機會，這是我們不想看到的。我最大的擔憂是這些物體會成爲太空垃圾。除了廣告以外，這些物體毫無用處，總之我不看好這個項目。”

Astronomer John Barentine told : "It’s a threat to the ability to do astronomical research from the ground, every one of those moving blips of light in the night sky is something that can interfere with our ability to collect photons from astronomical sources.”

天文學家約翰·巴倫廷告訴天文學網站說：“這會對地面上的天文研究能力造成威脅。夜空中每一個運動的光點都會影響我們收集來自天文活動的光子的能力。”

blip[blɪp]: n. （在雷達屏幕顯示出的）物體光點

photon['fotɑn]: n. [物] 光子；輻射量子

Photo: StartRocket Sitnikov doesn’t seem to be bothered about the criticism his company’s project has received from the scientific community, though. He claims space advertising is inevitable, and compared the reactions “Orbital Display” has been getting to people’s reactions to TV ads at the advent of television.

不過西特尼科夫似乎並不在意科學團體對公司項目的批評聲。他表示，太空廣告是不可避免的，並將“軌道展示”所引起的反應和電視機剛出現時人們對電視廣告的反應相提並論。

"If you ask about advertising and entertainment in general — haters gonna hate,” Skorupsky said. “We are developing a new medium. At the advent of television no one loved ads at all. What if we will invent a new media, the first media in orbit?”

“如果你問人們對廣告和娛樂的看法，總會有人看不慣。”西特尼科夫說：“我們正在研發的是一種新媒介。在電視機剛出現時，不是也沒人喜歡廣告麼？說不定我們就此發明了一種新媒體——首個軌道媒體呢？”

Although, technically feasible, the Orbital Display project is likely to face some regulatory hurdles. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if instead of stars, we’ll be looking at ads from the world’s biggest brands when looking at the night sky in the not so distant future.

不過，就算在技術上可以實現，軌道展示項目也會面臨一些制度上的障礙。儘管如此，在不久的將來，如果我們仰望夜空，看到是國際大品牌的廣告而不是星星，我也不會感到驚訝。