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Vitae Lunar Sculpture Project.

UnusualAttitude

By UnusualAttitude
in Science & Spaceflight

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UnusualAttitude

UnusualAttitude

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Unsurprisingly, I could not find the "Art & Spaceflight" section of these forums, so I'll try here. :)

French artist Anilore Banon is planning to send a sculpture to the surface of the Moon. Banon, who is best known for her "Les Braves" War memorial on Omaha Beach, has been working on this project for the past three years. The feasibility study was performed in cooperation with Dassault Systemes. A prototype of the sculpture is to be launched to the International Space Station today on board the CRS-10 Dragon capsule, where it will be experimentally deployed to test the behaviour of the shape-memory titanium-nickel alloys in microgravity.

The final version of the sculpture will be designed to fit inside a 12x12 cm space and deploy into the shape of a flower once exposed to sunlight on the Moon's surface, revealing the handprints of a million people. Fully deployed, it should measure "between 1.5 and 4.5 metres" depending on the mass-budget, according to the artist. Mass will be about 1.5 kg.

The sculpture will also be fitted with a laser that will be visible from Earth, to be used "on special occasions". Banon claims that the project requires "another 2.5 to 3 million dollars" to be feasible, to be financed by donations and crowd-funding.

Well, the French band Gojira was nominated for two Grammy Awards, so anything is possible, I suppose... :D

Any idea how much 1.5 kg to lunar surface costs, assuming Falcon 9, say?

 

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munlander1

munlander1

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2 minutes ago, UnusualAttitude said:

Part of the problem is that people don't have the ability to fold into a 12x12 cm cargo bay, and they weigh a bit more than 1.5 kg. :sticktongue:

I think his point was we should invest more money into human spaceflight to the moon then sending art pieces.

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UnusualAttitude

UnusualAttitude

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1 minute ago, munlander1 said:

I think his point was we should invest more money into human spaceflight to the moon then sending art pieces.

Yeah, I'm just kidding and I quite agree. But if Banon actually manages to scrape together the budget to do this through sponsorships, donations and crowd funding, then props to her. 3 million sounds like a lot for a kickstarter project though.... 

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LordFerret

LordFerret

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45 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

ET will see those handprints and think that there were thousands of terrans who touched this thing, and that we can walk in vacuum without spacesuits. So, Moon's ours.

Also, the Moon will have it's own KSP-style anomaly to watch.

The ETs will use those handprints to find and identify those humans on Earth... then take them up into space and expose them to vacuum, to do tests. lol

 

10 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Why not? There already are tokens.

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800px-Kansas_Cosmosphere_Luna_2_Pennant_

The Russian soccer team has been to the Moon?!?!??

 

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UnusualAttitude

UnusualAttitude

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11 minutes ago, munlander1 said:

From the video, it just looks like the mission is supposed to be just for the art thing. If there was also some sort of actual  mission part  (eg. rover) of it, I would actually kind of support this.

I think that the video is just a generic presentation (I don't even know if that is a real launcher). Apparently they are looking to hitch a ride with one of the Google Lunar X-Prize entrants. I found another article with more info here.

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CatastrophicFailure

CatastrophicFailure

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1 hour ago, Scotius said:

Shouldn't we put more people there, before we start plonking art pieces in the regolith? A permanent base  or something?

As long as it's privately funded, and if sounds like it is, they can put whatever they want up there as far as I'm concerned. That, in itself, would still be an achievement toward lunar mastery. 

 

1 hour ago, LordFerret said:

The Russian soccer team has been to the Moon?!?!??

  This was on one of the Soviet moon landers impactors. That sphere burst just before impact, spreading those chits all over the surface. In theory. 

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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

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1 hour ago, LordFerret said:

The Russian soccer team has been to the Moon?!?!??

Luna-2 delivered this set to the Moon. Gather 10 and gain a bonus.

22 minutes ago, munlander1 said:
24 minutes ago, Elthy said:

That laser has to be an impresive piece of technology...

With a large telescope

Plus one laser impulse - minus one astronomer's eye. Laser beam, after all.

Edited by kerbiloid
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UnusualAttitude

UnusualAttitude

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1 hour ago, Elthy said:

That laser has to be an impresive piece of technology...

According to the second article I linked it is "a 10 watt laser that will pulse a couple of times each night and be visible with a pair of binoculars." I assume such a beam wouldn't be visible from the entire globe ? 

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Shpaget

Shpaget

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3 hours ago, LordFerret said:

The Russian soccer team has been to the Moon?!?!??

That's where they do their high altitude training.

 

Anyway, I don't support this. To me it looks like a personal thing an in no way beneficial to the society. I believe it would fall under "Fund my life" category on Kickstarter (is that still a thing?).

Thumb down.

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wumpus

wumpus

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5 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Anyway, I don't support this. To me it looks like a personal thing an in no way beneficial to the society. I believe it would fall under "Fund my life" category on Kickstarter (is that still a thing?).

Thumb down.

That's pretty much what art is (unless directly sold to a buyer).  I'm also more than skeptical of the "illuminate on special occasions".  It would either have low-lifetime onboard lighting or require laser illumination from Earth (or somebody standing on the Moon with a flashlight), so I expect that is just kickstarter propaganda.

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LordFerret

LordFerret

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8 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

This was on one of the Soviet moon landers impactors. That sphere burst just before impact, spreading those chits all over the surface. In theory.

I can picture that, in the future, someone collecting those chits will have them up for auction on EBay... and make a small fortune.

 

The Moon does not need "art". Tell Anilore Banon "No, thank you.", and to stick with war memorials. When we have our first battle on the Moon (or over the Moon), then we can contact her and contract her for a memorial.

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kerbiloid

kerbiloid

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2 hours ago, LordFerret said:

The Moon does not need "art"

Why not?

This tripod with a greenish Heat-Ray, which came from the Earth in a flying cylinder, and a thing with tentacles inside,
will demonstrate our peaceful intentions and our readiness for co-operation with the selenite civilization.

Spoiler

heatray.jpg

Edited by kerbiloid
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LordFerret

LordFerret

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23 hours ago, JayPee said:

everywhere - and everyone - needs art

While that is true, not everyone perceives individual works the same. Art to some is trash to others, and vice versa. IMO, the Moon is not a canvas nor a gallery for man's creations... and if it is, then I've got an idea of my own. Will my idea, and others, be permitted? Who will judge me?

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