

I'm worried by the concern about it though, for a number of reasons
that have nothing to do with Space Advertising (which for a number of
reasons is probably doomed to fail on financial grounds).

(And I've been reading and (and writing) this thread since way
back when it was only on sci.space).

For starters, I don't think the piece of light-pollution apparatus
would be as bright as the full moon. _That_ seems to me to be a bit
of propaganda on the part of opponents, or wishful thinking on the
part of proponents.

Second, this charge of ruining the night sky permanently has been
levelled against other projects, that either 1) don't increace light
pollution significantly, or 2) increace light pollution only over the
target area.

You may or may not recognize #1 as being Solar Power Sattelites.
I think it was Josh Hopkins who actually did the math, showing that
SPS's weren't that bright after all, ending some two months of frenzied
opposition on the part of dark-sky activists and various other types.

#2 is mainly projects like the orbiting mirror the CIS tested
recently.  While slightly more worrisome, I'd like to point out that
any significant scattering of light outside the target area for one of
these mirrors would be wasted as far as the project would be
concerned, and something any project like that would work against
anyway. And given some of the likely targets, I don't think there's
going to be much of an outcry from the inhabitants. There is too much
dark sky in the northern CIS during the winter, and I doubt you'll find
many activists in Murmansk demanding the "natural" sky back. If anything,
he'll probably be inside, stripped buck naked in front of the UV lamp,
making sure he'll get enough vitamin D for the "day."

The mirror experiments aren't something they're doing for crass
advertising. They think that if they can build one, it'll be one of
those things people in the affected areas will think they couldn't
have lived without before. And I doubt anyone's going to really be
able to convince them to stop.

