Help Please! Tagging in Space

[Robinne Weiss]

So, if you wanted to do graffiti in space--say, on an asteroid floating around between planets--what would you use? Would spray paint work? A permanent marker, like a Sharpie? Chalk?

Asking for a friend ...

 

[Marc Joan]

Physics not my strong point I am afraid ... but how about burning your tags into the alien rock with a hand-held laser?

 

[Marc Joan]

Actually, would the burning/cutting effect of a laser work effectively in zero atmosphere conditions? There's no gas to ionise to form a plasma ... Like I said, physics is not my strong point!

 

[Marc Joan]

Graffiti without Gravity – Street art in space

 

[Marc Joan]

not so relevant perhaps, but quite cool

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Graffiti without Gravity – Street art in space

LOL... what a bizarre project. Unfortunately, they're actually doing the graffiti on Earth, not in space... Maybe I need to consult NASA on this.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

not so relevant perhaps, but quite cool

WOW!

 

[Nikky Lee]

My thinking with a spray can is that the force of the spray leaving it would propel the painter/artist away from the surface they're trying to paint. So I think you're onto something with the chalk. Or could you go down a technology route and have it as a light display on the edge of said asteroid, like they do on the side of buildings?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

My thinking with a spray can is that the force of the spray leaving it would propel the painter/artist away from the surface they're trying to paint. So I think you're onto something with the chalk. Or could you go down a technology route and have it as a light display on the edge of said asteroid, like they do on the side of buildings?

The light display is a cool idea, but won't work for me (er...I mean my friend)--they need to do it on the fly, so to speak, tagging, and then leaving.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Giant space stamp?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Giant space stamp?

LOL!

 

[Barbara]

How about a bloke in a space suit and a good old paintbrush.

If it's set in the future, simply invent a gadget. Some device (like Marc said with his laser) that scrambles up the molecules and turns rock into colour.

Or maybe they can scramble the molecules by pure thought. Think and thou art.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Lazer beam? That way you could you make it the space equivalent of an old tree with "Anna was here 2323" and "Luc x John forever" engraved all over it.

Edit: oh, Marc already mentioned lazers. Nevermind me.

 

[Kitty]

Write your name in footprints in the lunar dust. It will still be there in millions of years

 

[AngryPI]

I think spray paint would work, but as others have said that its propulsions might jet you away, however, I think the main issue is light, and how in space, everything is basically an absence of light. So you could get the paint on the asteroid but since there is no shining light on that specific asteroid, then no one could actually observe it.

What you need is a predictable rock occurrence, like Haley's Comet that is sure to follow a pattern and then have it be in an age that it can be observable by a timely occurrence of a star shining upon it...

 

[Amber]

There's a physicist around.

I believe space is vacuum.

But here you go:

Reddit People on Spray Paint in Space - A Discussion I Found by Using the Google Machine on My Personal Glorified Calculator