The International Space Station looks very pretty in orbit, but where are the billboards? Credit: © NASA

The International Space Station (ISS) has a major image problem. By this time last year it had cost more than $75 billion; it is still only half finished, and is widely thought to be a white elephant.

Even NASA administrator Mike Griffin, speaking to USA Today earlier this week, said the station was built in the wrong way and even in the wrong place. "Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in."

But this weekend will bring a refreshing set of opportunities for the beleaguered craft, when a Russian Soyuz capsule blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will carry Greg Olsen, the third space tourist to visit the station. And it will carry a high-definition camera to film a series of commercials.

First on the slate is an ad for instant noodles, which will air in Japan as part of Nissin Food Products' 'Cup noodle no border' campaign. According to news reports, a hungry cosmonaut will be filmed tucking into the snack.

Nissin already sells 20 billion packets of instant noodles a year. Presumably it hopes that the sight of someone trying to eat noodles in low gravity (how do you get the hot water in the cup?) will be amusing enough to boost sales even further... astronomically, perhaps.

Been there, done that

The ISS has seen these sorts of ventures before. On 3 May 2001, two Russian cosmonauts spent six hours filming promotions for Radio Shack, Popular Mechanics magazine, Lego and Pizza Hut, which also made its first deep-pan delivery to space. Pizza Hut have had their logo emblazoned on the side of a Russian Proton rocket, and in 1998 Mir cosmonauts made a live appearance on a shopping channel to sell pens that could write upside down.

The Russians have starred in these ventures for two key reasons. First, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's space programme has been severely cash-strapped. When the first space tourist, Dennis Tito, paid $20 million for a ticket to the ISS in 2001, it actually amounted to about 5% of Russia's annual space budget. Second, NASA's astronauts are prohibited from endorsing any products, just like other federal employees.

But now that there are serious rumblings about abandoning the ISS project altogether, there is no better time to milk the thing for all it's worth.

Show me the money

Even ardent supporters of the ISS generally agree that it has failed to deliver significant scientific breakthroughs. Instead, its success has been in learning how astronauts endure long periods in space, and cope with routine repairs and boredom. This intangible benefit has left people distinctly underwhelmed.

Advertising from space would not only raise the profile of endorsed products, it could also promote the benefits of having an outpost in space: surely a win-win situation.

Although the ISS will never make billions from commercials, it could still raise enough money for a little extra science, something that is lamentably absent now that the skeleton crew of two or three astronauts are not much more than space janitors. At least the project would look like it was trying to pay its way.

It's not as if the station's owners have never considered broadening their commercial opportunities. NASA once hoped that allowing companies to conduct experiments onboard the station would bring in extra cash. And there were also plans for a Russian-built Enterprise module that would have been entirely devoted to commercial ventures, and included a small, permanent television broadcast area. Since the Columbia shuttle accident in 2003, this plan has been indefinitely on hold.

Stars in their eyes

There must be a raft of money-making opportunities that have yet to be exploited. How about in the arts, for example?

The European Space Agency has already teamed up with a London-based organization called the Arts Catalyst to look into the "cultural utilization" of the space station. And the director of Arts Catalyst, Nicola Triscott, has taken performance artists on a zero-gravity parabolic flight, normally used for astronaut training.

To be frank I doubt there is any cultural value to be gleaned from supporting dancers in space. But there could be money in the broadcasts. And why not use this programme to encourage astronauts to make art for sale: original space sculptures would surely raise a few thousand dollars at auction, though you'd have to pay to have them shipped back to Earth.

As for space tourism, there must be profitable links to be made with television - particularly since video is the cheapest thing to ship from the ISS. For now, space travel is out of reach of all but the mega-rich. Perhaps a more democratic approach would be to run a lottery, where tickets are sold at accessible prices. A winner could be selected every year, with the prize draw televised live around the world.

The advertising rights alone would make a mint, and the follow-up reality television series would keep viewers hooked.

NASA claims it is eager to exploit the commercial opportunities of space. Surely, then, they should push boldly ahead on all frontiers of interplanetary commerce and sell, sell, sell?