Geostationary Banana

A team of artists and engineers is preparing to float a 300-meter banana between the high atmosphere and Earth’s low orbit (30-50 km). Sounds fantastical, but the engineering is apparently all there; the banana is set to launch August 2008. The team claims there are no legal aspects for them to deal with at all – there are no rulings for air traffic at over 25,000 feet. Which is fun for art, but has scary implications – we’ve been hearing for a decade now about the possibility of large companies floating enormous billboards in space, visible from earth. If the banana succeeds, it’s easy to imagine sunset skies dotted with honkin’ Lexus and Pepsi ads not long after.

Thanks baald