> I could throw something on my roof or out my window that could somehow be part of a global network to watch things and making findings as a community.

In addition to the other items people have mentioned, the Center for Backyard Astrophysics is a network of small observatories (most operated by serious amateurs) that assembles light curves (brightness as a function of time) for various types of stars and stellar binaries. It's not a fully automated system, but presumably you could set up a robotically operated telescope to assist with their programs.

https://cbastro.org/

Some telescope networks like Slooh [1] are essentially crowdfunded, and offer remote access on a per-hour basis. There are also telescope hosting services out there, SpaceOBS [2] being an example located in Atacama (probably the best observing conditions available for an amateur), and iTelescope [3] in the Siding Spring Observatory.

[1] https://www.slooh.com/

[2] http://www.spaceobs.com/

[3] http://hosting.itelescope.net/

That’s starting to be the case. Check out https://projectpanoptes.org It’s network of ~$5000 exoplanet robotic survey telescopes. There’s also https://skynet.unc.edu/ which is aimed at larger scopes.

There are astronomy clubs that have telescopes somewhere that can be accessed by internet and are shared. They don't call themselves crowdfunded but they are.

It's not a telescope you can have at home but you can buy and gift telescope time. https://www.itelescope.net/

The American Association of Variable Star Observers is always looking for more people to observe different variable stars. Their website has a lot of very approachable tutorials on how to get started [1].

[1] https://www.aavso.org/

I’ve always wanted to see space exploration paid for with ad dollars.

Let’s beam back images from the solar system in 4k 24/7 as part of the next Voyager type missions. The profits could be used to pay for new missions.

The view from Voyager doesn't change very fast, so no need for video. NASA does stream live video from the ISS [1], not very exciting when they're on the dark side of the Earth (just a black image). No ad revenue though, I guess real life space isn't as interesting to as many people as people in a pawn shop reading from scripts.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mSgb-gWjy0

I was thinking more like parking them in orbit around each planet. A couple of new Mars rovers, etc.

The problem with "Voyager type" missions is that the next launch window will be available in 2150s.

Hopefully the SLS rocket will be working by then.

They fix the hardware, which needs to be hardened, a long time before launch. The capability to do something wouldn't happen in the same decade people call it blurry but passable.

Despite all the horrifying implications (NASA suddenly being directly funded by big oil), I want this just to give the Flat Earth Society a chance to advertise.