ESA Chooses Space Advertising For Mars
FYI,
"Space: The Ultimate Billboard"
Space Daily/AFP
http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/marsexpress-00c.html
: Emblazoned with logos that may be seen by
: billions of people back home, the little lander
: Beagle 2 will be the main payload aboard an
: ambitious European Space Agency (ESA) mission to
: see if there is life on Mars.
Meanwhile NASA and Congress are trying to ensure
American companies cannot advertise in space.
: The 30-kilo (66-pound) rover will mark the first
: commercial backing for an interplanetary
: mission, and sources predict that if it
: succeeds, the sponsorship door will be flung
: open for other big-ticket space projects.
Hooray for them! Horray for what it will do for
us, now that commercial sponsorship is a faite d'
complete (pardon my rusty French :).
: Matthew Patten, chief executive of the British
: firm MetC Saatchi Sponsorship, told AFP his firm
: had found "three very interested parties"
: willing to sponsor Beagle 2.
: "The (television) syndication and distribution
: will be worldwide.
: The sponsorship was purely a matter for the
: British companies which were providing Beagle 2,
: and did not apply to the Mars Express mission of
: which the lander was only a part, he stressed.
: But he added that ESA did not bar sponsorship
: and in fact was looking at the potential of
: "future partnerships" with industry.
: Without sponsorship, Beagle 2 would have
: remained on the drawing board, Pillinger said.
: Not only would science benefit, public awareness
: in space would also get a boost, he argued.
: "We've shown that the money is potentially there
: from advertising and sponsorship."
Once again America is second in space, not because
of any lack of ability or innitiative by our
entrepreneurs, but because of small minded
government would-be tyrrants, who presume to have
the authority to say whether commerce (in the form
of advertising) has a place in space. Apparently
even the normally socialist Europeans are more
open to business interests in space - when it
serves their interests. In this country the
government is supposed to serve our interests.
------------
Related news item:
Space Ad Ban May Be Unconstitutional Per Spam Case Ruling
FYI,
A relivent side note on whether or not a ban on space advertising is
constitutional. Considering that Internet "spam" (unsolicited
advertising) is universally hated by everyone but those who do it, it
is clear that clearly less obnoxious and obtrusive space advertising
would fair even better in court.
"Anti-spam E-mail Suit Tossed Out"
Seattle Times
http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/spam_20000314.html
: The victory came when King County Superior Court Judge Palmer
: Robinson dismissed a case in which the state charged Jason Heckel
: with violating Washington's anti-spam law. Robinson said the law,
: generally regarded as the nation's toughest, violates the
: interstate-commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
: The judge held that the statute is "unduly restrictive and
: burdensome" and places a burden on businesses that outweighs its
: benefits to consumers.
Sound familiar?
: However, Robinson not only dismissed the case against Heckel "with
: prejudice" - meaning it cannot be refiled - but signed an order
: allowing Heckel to present a bill for recovery of his costs and
: legal fees.
We may not like the results, but this is relivent precedence case law
applicable to space advertising.
--
Mark Reiff
e-mail: markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.space-space.com
Yahoo Commercial Space Place forum
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