Spatial Awareness

In the small print of an advertisement in a very glossy monthly magazine, which is free to affluent areas but otherwise has to be purchased,  a local motor vehicle garage makes the claim that their 5 acre car sales lot is visible from space. I have conducted my own investigation into this claim and can report as follows;

There is some disagreement in where Space actually commences above Planet Earth. This is because it is not a finite point, there is no physical barrier or red-line which differentiates the existence of an atmosphere from none. It is a gradual thinning out process .

NASA, in their definition of an astronaut attribute this rare designation to someone who has exceeded an altitude of 80km above the earth. Others regard 100km as a start in that the atmosphere at this height is not able to sustain normal aircraft flight and requires a spacecraft and full technical support.

To put this distance into some sort of context the maximum height for a commercial passenger aircraft is around 45,000 feet or just under 14km. The sight of such high flying aircraft amongst a criss-cross of vapour trails on the busier flight corridors is well known and serves as a good ilustration of what sort of distances are in play. Under the controlled conditions of Google Earth, even at an indicated elevation of 10km or 30,000 feet above the aforementioned motor vehicle garage I would defy anyone even equipped with eagle-eyes or a powerful magnifying glass to identify any features remotely associated with car sales.

The aggregated audience to whom the advertised claim would appeal can currently be numbered at about 6, being the full compliment of the International Space Station which is in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 354km which is to be extended, on fuel saving grounds, to 399km.

Three new crew members recently took up occupation as Expedition 31, some 12 years into the operational life of the space station. Out of the six occupants it is possible that these three may have had access to the glossy magazine containing the garage advert. This could have been whilst waiting at Balkonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch of the Soyuz TMA-04M launch vehicle. If the waiting area in that facility is anything like that in most airports there would be plenty of time to browse the newspapers and publications lying around on cafe tables or lounging chairs.

Amongst the multi-national crew of Expo 31 is a Dutch Flight Engineer, Andre Kuipers. Given the relative proximity of his home country to the motor vehicle garage ,only 492km via the North Sea Ferry at Hull, it is not beyond reasonable speculation that he may have had access to the specific publication. The target market for the car sales advert is therefore, strictly adhering to the criteria of being seen from space, only Andre Kuipers.

I would therefore urge the Principals at the garage, a Land Rover, Nissan, Renault, Ssangyong and
Isuzu Main Dealer to start to prepare for a unique selling opportunity for their sole, exclusive
potential customer.

It would be best to perhaps arrange the sales stock vehicles in a distinct fashion so that, even from the significant height of 354km above the planet, Mr Kuipers can utilise the powerful telescopes on the ISS to stand a chance of seeing what is on offer.

It will be necessary to affix the price displays to the roof of each vehicle, ideally with a short, concise and clearly legible from space potted description of specification, mileage and any other good selling points.Be selective in what stock to promote on the basis that a highly educated, skilled and discerning astronaut is more likely to favour a Land Rover or top of the range Nissan or Renault rather than a Twingo or Note. Frankly, Ssangyongs and Isuzus's are just too unreliable and with very poor resale values to appeal to someone at the top of their profession and at the top of the world. Retailer, Service and Part back up for those marques are, I understand, also quite sparse in the Netherlands

There is little remaning time to prepare for the space window of opportunity as Mr Kuipers will be directly overhead of the garage this coming 21st June 2012.

It will not be the usual case of salespersons sitting around waiting for a customer to appear. The ISS is an example of precision engineering and operation. There is no potential for a hold up from a traffic build up, road works, contra-flow, puncture, empty fuel tank or forgetting the house keys for Mr Kuipers as compared to the average punter vaguely interested in buying a new car.

It will have to be quite a grand, late night and floodlit opening as the ISS is scheduled to be passing at 10.31pm. The selling will have to be slick as the actual span of visibility will be only 3 minutes. Alignment of vehicles will also take some careful thought as the ISS approaches at ten degrees above west south west and departs at eleven degrees above south. That is quite a low trajectory so it may be worthwhile cutting back the top 2 metres of the conifers along the rear boundary.

The exceptional effort required to entice Mr Kuipers into a purchase will however be well worth it, even just on publicity value, should it be successful. I can imagine the kudos of the actual salesperson who secures that deal.

Now lets talk finance and extended warranty. Has anyone got the phone number for NASA?