Comments on: NASA brands Mars

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:26:57 +0000

The biggest clue, I thought, was the line about ads on Mars being visible both to orbiters and to ground-based scopes.

To be visible from Earth (even with a powerful scope), a logo on Mars would need to be hundreds of kilometres across. But anything larger than about 50 km would not fit into the field of view of any of the orbiters.

Still, it’s a fun idea.

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:22:45 +0000

Hadn’t we better ask the Mysterons what they think before we start writing all over their planet?

By: mathandphysics1

mathandphysics1 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:05:53 +0000

IRT to the commercializing of space
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

IRT to Galactic Cosmic Rays and low standards of journalism see the following:

http://www.newcomensengine.com/2008/04/end-of-professional-journalism.html

By: Will. M

Will. M — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:15:49 +0000

Two weeks ago Rolling Rock, the beer, ran commercials in prime time outlining how they were going to use a laser to project an image of their logo on the face of the soon-to-be-full moon.
Perhaps they were just getting a head start on April 1? Or, if no one in the rest of the country saw these ads, maybe they knew their only in California audience all too well.

By: Arcturian

Arcturian — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:18:04 +0000

You know, the russians/this or that company are going to beam a huge advert on the Moon with lasers. If somebody came up a sick idea to beam an advert to the northern (or southern) stratosphere to create artificial aurora borealis/australis, that might picque my interest on the 1st of April.

But I had better things to think about then. It was the birthday of my cat, he’s 3 years old now, and still almost as crazy as the day I adopted him at 9 weeks. He doesn’t give a about space or people. He just adores the sounds of Saturn and Jupiter (the sounds of the magnetic fields modified to audible wavelengths), and for some reason all I play with my guitar, but that’s because heavy distortion seems to make him very sleepy indeed.

May 25th I won’t miss, though. Let’s hope this time a polar lander works.

By: Aerimus

Aerimus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:40:19 +0000

@Daniel:
“Honestly why are people so upset about this? I’d much rather a mars bar rover than none.”

My guess would be that old stereotype that sponsorship = sell out. In other words, sponsorship in many peoples eyes would probably be the first step of NASA focusing their service to their sponsors and away from the general public, who are supposed to benefit from the science works and advancements by the agency.

By: Aerimus

Aerimus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:33:23 +0000

@anion:
“Or, instead of placing ads on the shuttle, put them on the countdown clock or other things the public sees when the shuttle launches, that won’t interfere with the launch. Have the media, refer to it as the Generic Brand countdown clock.”

How about “Lunching Off Into Space: Stephen Colbert Cool Ranch Doritos’s Mars Mission Crunchdown Clock”.

By: Ken B

Ken B — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:26:23 +0000

Good satire has to be subtle, and just close enough to reality to be believable. As has been pointed out, the Russians have been selling advertising space on their rockets for years, so "why not NASA, too" isn't that far fetched. Here's another one, pitting two routers (Cisco vs. Black and Decker) in head-to-head tests.

By: RL

RL — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:16:00 +0000

I think it would be cool if the astronauts wore sponsor patches like racecar drivers do. Imagine watching the astronauts work in the name of their sponsors into their talks (“that Frito-Lay lander handled like a dream”). The money from commercials could be big too. Imagine UPS sponsoring a Mars landing (“Brown gets you there”). Can you paint a rocket brown?

I started joking but the more I think about it, this could work.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:27:38 +0000

Honestly why are people so upset about this? I’d much rather a mars bar rover than none.

By: KC

KC — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:16:03 +0000

Actually, I remember a toss-off comment between 1985 and 1990 on the NASA direct feed (back in the days when a TVRO dish strictly meant C-Band or Ku). Mission Control zoomed in on a corporate logo mounted to some equipment in the shuttle bay, and someone made a comment on-air about advertisement. A wry comment, like Robert Young’s statement about going back to water landings when they had trouble opening the Columbia’s door. Still . . .

By: Kirk

Kirk — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:07:05 +0000

I understand they are using military laser weapons to generate the logo on the surface of Mars. An excellent use of our Defense Dept budget and, better yet, clear demonstration of US capability while allowing our troops to safely practice their skills. First project is an advertisement for Bear Stearns and Countrywide Finance. Huzzah for George Bush and his cronies.

By: TierOneGirl

TierOneGirl — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:54:24 +0000

It’s an April Fools Day joke, thank goodness.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:50:43 +0000

This is much better than the silly April Fools jokes that folks were trying to pull off at work yesterday. I didn’t read it until this morning so you had me going for a little bit.

By: Rab

Rab — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:44:54 +0000

This post went up at 5:15 pm, WAY after the April Fools deadline of noon, in blatant disrespect (and probably ignorance) of this long established and hallowed rule.

Who’s the fool now, huh?

By: The Barber of Civility

The Barber of Civility — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:03:53 +0000

Phil -

I’ve come up with a great way for you to make money on your Mars face logo cap advertising – sublease the space and the face could be eating a Mars bar!

By: Michael Lonergan

Michael Lonergan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:32:10 +0000

Well, with the age of Astronauts getting up there, a 30 year old Space Shuttle, why not? I’m sure the good folks at Viagra could come up with something…

By: Daggerstab

Daggerstab — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:00:38 +0000

This reminds me of an old joke (supposedly dating back to the Moon Race):

A panicked NASA employee contacts the President of the United States:
- Mr. President, the Russians are painting the Moon in red!
- That’s not a problem. Tell me when they have finished.

After some time the same employee calls again:
- Mr. President, the Russians have finished.
- Good. Now, send our boys up there with some white paint. They simply have to write “Coca-Cola”.

By: NASA brands Mars | Science

NASA brands Mars | Science — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:56:32 +0000

[...] Link: Zobacz [...]

By: Dan Gerhards

Dan Gerhards — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:21:19 +0000

Too bad they’re *not* advertising. I’ve always thought they should decorate the space shuttles like race cars. That could put a dent in their budget problems, and leave some room for *actual* science. Pizza Hut was glad to pay a cool million for their logo on a Russian rocket.

By: Richard H.

Richard H. — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:06:25 +0000

“And now, the Firestone National Aeronautics and Space Administration is proud to present the launch of the Firestone Radial Space Shuttle Endeavour.”

…Yeah, that could go well. :-/

By: positive anion

positive anion — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:28:44 +0000

I am not talking about painting the whole tank in ads, just the areas visible to the cameras. Which would add a lot of weight, as NASA found out when they started launching the shuttle with a white external fuel tank.

Adding a couple micrograms of weight to the external fuel tank ain’t gonna make a whole lot of difference.

Or, instead of placing ads on the shuttle, put them on the countdown clock or other things the public sees when the shuttle launches, that won’t interfere with the launch. Have the media, refer to it as the Generic Brand countdown clock.

Or if NASA doesn’t want to pollute the area around the launchpad with ads, they can always have companies sponsor them. Just imagine it now:
“Coca-Cola is proud to sponsor the National Air and Space Program.”

By: dhtroy

dhtroy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:04:36 +0000

NASA: Just Launch It.

By: Cello Man

Cello Man — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:57:28 +0000

Heh.

Seriously though, for years I’ve wondered why corporations with huge ad budgets don’t fund NASA launches. Race cars have logos all over them, why not rockets?

I hate the ad industry as much as the next guy, but if a rocket with “I’m lovin’ it!” painted on the side gets us to Mars sooner, why the hell not?

By: Hugo

Hugo — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:45:31 +0000

I was about to post, “Oh how horrid. This is akin to the national parks shaving the logos of corporate sponsors into bears…”

When it hit me.

On the flip side of this nice bit of humour, in ten years time I expect to see on forums, “Like when NASA announced it was going to start etching logos on Mars…like they don’t waste enough money covering up Roswell and faking to moon landings…”