By Chris Cosci

This fall, a company called TransOrbital is scheduled to launch the spacecraft TrailBlazer to the moon. TrailBlazer will orbit the moon for about three months, sending back high-quality photographs and videos. It will also collect data that can be used to create a new, high-resolution lunar map. The success of this project can produce a tremendous wealth of information about our cosmic satellite.

But it would be disgraceful to launch a mission like this for purely educational purposes. It would be much better to take advantage of this opportunity and find a way to make a whole lot of money. So, instead of focusing on the actual science, the launch of TrailBlazer is being touted as "the first commercial venture to the moon." It's turning space exploration into space exploitation.

Here's the plan: the Trailblazer will be launched containing a protective capsule filled with various objects. After its three-month orbit, the Trailblazer will leave its path and crash into the moon. The enclosed capsule will then tunnel itself approximately 15 feet into the moon's surface. And this is where the commercial aspect comes in.

The capsule will contain objects provided by paying customers. TransOrbital is offering the opportunity to send your business card to the moon, making you one of the first companies on the lunar market. It's like advertising here on Earth, but without the inconvenience of competition - or potential customers.

The price for sending one business card? $2,500. While this may be a little high for some people, it's probably great for highly paid professionals. This way, if an alien spacecraft accidentally crashes into the U.S. flag we planted there in 1969, the aliens will know just where to reach a lawyer to sue Neil Armstrong's family.

If you prefer, you can send up something a little more personal than a business card, like a piece of jewelry or a small memento. That will also cost you $2,500... per gram. For those of you not familiar with the metric system, allow me to put this in perspective: a penny weighs approximately 2.5 grams. That means it would cost you over $6,000 to send one penny. An item that weighs a single pound (or roughly 450 grams) would set you back a whopping $1,125,000. And unless you have about $150 million, you'll have to find another way to get rid of that annoying co-worker.

While the prices may seem a little steep, you do get something in return for your contribution. When you pay to send a business card or other personal item, TransOrbital will send you a "deluxe TrailBlazer certificate." It's not just any certificate - it's deluxe. That means it's printed on top-quality paper using the finest printing, right?

Actually, no. For that, you would have to get the "deluxe presentation certificate," which the Web site claims is "produced using high-resolution printing." That can be purchased for an additional charge. After all, you can't put a price on good printing. So what makes the standard certificate "deluxe"? According to the site, it's "suitable for framing." Wow - you can't say about just any piece of paper. Well, I guess you can, but why ruin the fantasy?

For those of you on a smaller budget, you can still send a personal message to the moon for just $16.95. The messages will be micro-etched onto a special disk along with hundreds of other messages. You still get a certificate, but only a "custom computer-generated certificate." The deluxe TrailBlazer certificate is extra. That must mean the custom certificate is unsuitable for framing. Hey, what do expect for seventeen bucks?

The message can be up to 300 characters, which is enough to write, "I spent $16.95 to send a message to the moon, and all I got was a lousy certificate!" But whatever you choose to send, you can proudly tell people that you were one of the first people to put something on the moon. And hundreds of years from now, when the capsule is dug up, people can smile and say, "I wonder how much those suckers paid for this."