An experiment to combine deep-space exploration with social media appears to have faltered over an issue as mundane as paying the electricity bill. Lone Signal, a New York-based start-up that sends text messages from anyone into deep space, has run into financial difficulties only two months after it started transmitting from the Jamesburg Earth Station radio telescope in California, and expects to transmit its final message and shut down on Thursday. Revenue from the site only covered 2% of the company’s costs. Lone Signal has sent about 7,200 messages toward a red dwarf star about 17.6 light years from earth, with the farthest beam having travelled about 1.1 trillion miles so far. Users of the service were able to send texts and photos after purchasing credits for about 25¢ each. Customers in the U.S. have sent the greatest quantity of messages, followed closely by people in the U.K. The posts sent so far have ranged from Bible verses to binary code.