Is it possible to project an image onto the moon

The firm told Nasa: 'We are currently building an extremely high-powered projection unit to project an image into space as part of an advertising campaign. But the gag quickly escalated up to senior NASA officers and James received a string of terse emails warning his plans were illegal. The space scientists warned James' multi media firm Cherryduck that it would have to contact aviation regulators in their own country. Producers at the advertising firm went ahead with the film - but yesterday admitted they had not contacted Nasa to explain the enquiry had all been part of a joke.

Mr Vellacott, 42, said: 'A couple of emails were exchanged and we were terrified we were going to get a call from federal agents. The firm produced detailed plans for the project which it asked Nasa's advice on - but space bosses thought the plan was real.

Cheeryduck creative director Jez Furlong, 37, came up with the idea of a spoof company which specialises in children's cheese called Mooncheeze six months ago. They were told to ask NASA and dutifully contacted the space agency - neglecting to tell them about the joke because they believed it would stop them getting the information they wanted.

He wrote: 'We are currently building an extremely high-powered projection unit to project an image into space as part of an advertising campaign. The email read: 'UK Production Company that is building an extremely high-powered projection unit to project an image into space as part of an advertising campaign and they want to know if there are any guidelines or limitations they should be aware of. Stills from the spoof video showing a company's fictional bid to beam their cheese logo on to the moon.

Film producer James Vellacott, 42, was stunned by a glut of emails from NASA boffins urging him not to project the made-up 'Mooncheeze' brand into space. Joshua Buck wrote: 'There are definitely international laws restricting lasers pointing into commercial air space. The same day communications officer Mr Buck wrote: 'If there's a potential for the light to reach the space station and could potentially affect the crew's vision or ability to see, we'd need to be aware.

And in an email later the same night he added: 'It also occurs to me that since the FAA has rules, you should probably talk to whatever ministry covers commercial air and your version of Homeland Security as well and see what sort of laws are in place in the UK and Europe.

Cherryduck still went ahead with its video - and were even able to finish it with their quotes from NASA. In the video Jez, James and the rest of the production team talk about how they brainstormed for the making of the advert in an 'The Office' style mockumentary.

Some of the comedy lines include 'The moon - it's big, it's ballsy," and 'the world is no longer their oyster - the moon is too'. Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. But the timing had to be just right. He paused at the door, some twenty feet from the president's desk and quickly pinned a two-inch wide button to his lapel.

Patterson Griggs looked up. Do come in and—" The soft-drink executive stopped suddenly, his expression changed. I see half the school kids in the country wearing these silly buttons. But I came to give you a friendly tip, not to annoy you. You didn't have any trouble reading what was on the pin, did you?

I know you didn't; you yelled at me before either one of us stirred. As you have probably heard around the street, I'm behind this Moon trip venture. Between ourselves, Pat, it's quite an expensive undertaking, even for me. A few days ago a man came to me—you'll pardon me if I don't mention names? You can figure it out. Anyhow, this man represented a client who wanted to buy the advertising concession for the Moon.

He knew we weren't sure of success; but he said his client would take the risk. Then I thought he was kidding. Then I was shocked. Look at this—" Harriman took out a large sheet of paper and spread it on Griggs' desk. Eighteen pyrotechnics rockets shoot out in eighteen directions, like the spokes of a wheel, but to carefully calculated distances. They hit and the bombs they carry go off, spreading finely divided carbon black for calculated distances.

There's no air on the Moon, you know, Pat—a fine powder will throw just as easily as a javelin. Here's your result. So while projecting an image on the moon might not be possible , there are other means of displaying an image on it.

As already linked, Randall Munroe discussed illuminating the moon from earth — it's not feasible. The moon may not actually be as bright as it seems to us, but it's not that dark either. You'd need to cover a fraction of the surface that's comparable to the albedo. I'm only establishing lower bounds here; the real cost would likely be much, much higher. Both ideas share essentially the same problem: most of the light That needn't be though!

If you could directly beam from the moon straight to earth, you'd gain a lot. Doing this with lasers would again raise supply problems, but there's a much simpler solution: set up lots of mirrors to reflect sunlight. Because you're on the moon, these could be very lightweight — no wind and little gravity to keep against. The challenge: the mirrors would need to be continually adjusted, to track earth. Every single one would need an actuator. But that would of course also mean you can change the advertised message very quickly.

Sign up to join this community. After many years in the teleconferencing industry, Michael decided to embrace his passion for trivia, research, and writing by becoming a full-time freelance writer. Since then, he has contributed articles to a variety of print and online publications, including SmartCapitalMind, and his work has also appeared in poetry collections, devotional anthologies, and several newspapers.

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