Otsuka, the Japanese drinks company responsible for creating the Pocari Sweat beverage, is preparing to place the first piece of advertising on the moon with a giant can filled with a dry ingredient mix for future generations.
With the help of the Singapore-based space start-up Astroscale, the two companies hope to land the drink mixture so that in years to come any children living on habitats on the moon can make the drink by combining it with water.
Messages submitted by children across the world will first be laser-inscribed on the container’s 120 titanium plates.
Those whose messages are placed on the plates will be issued a key which will give them access to the can if they ever manage to make it to the moon.
If the mission is to take place as expected in October 2015, it will mark the first commercial object to land on the lunar surface.
Astroscale’s CEO, Nobu Okada, told Tech In Asia he has been fascinated by space travel since the age of 15, when he met the first Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mori.
“I was a failure up until then, but after that day, I changed. What Mori did for me back then, I want to return that to the children by 100 or 1,000 fold. I’ve been searching for an opportunity for a long time.”
To actually get the giant blue can onto the moon’s surface, however, they will be turning towards the US and the space payload company Astrobiotic, which its CEO describes as the “FedEx or UPS for the moon”.
Whether anyone actually wants to drink a beverage called ‘sweat’ is another question.
