Technology allows sending your Valentine's Day message into space

Is your love written in the stars? It could be! Now you can send your Valentine's Day message into space.

Valentine's Day can be a bit of a struggle. How much should you spend on him to let him know you care? Will she like that perfume you bought her?

And then there's the card - is it too cheesy, or just nice enough?

Well, now there might be another option, thanks to three enterprising PhD researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium - yes, really, they're a romantic bunch.

Maarten, Tjorven and Jeroen have launched writeitinthestars.com, a project to fund future research at their university.

Essentially, they're going to put people's paid-for messages on a cubesat, or miniature satellite, and send it up into orbit. It has its setbacks, but it's a nice enough gesture if you're stuck for a present to buy.

What happens?

"We take your love message into space, where it will pass over every part of the world for years to come. After 10 years, the satellite will enter the atmosphere and your message will turn into a beautiful shooting star." N'aww.

What's the catch?

The launch of the cubesat isn't set to take place until next year... So your loved one will be waiting a long time before your message gets up into orbit. Let's hope you're still together by then.

You also won't be able to see it, of course, as the tiny object will be orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 500km and a speed of 27000 km/h.

What about old-fashioned romance?

The Valentine's message also comes with a print-out version of one of five unique designs that can be downloaded from writeitinthestars.com, so you can hand it to the person you love.