The journey to Mars starts on Earth.
From July 17 until 31, 2004, a simulated 'habitat' lands in Berlin, at
the 'oststrand' (east beach), directly beneath the wall that once
separated west Berlin from the communist east block.
Latest plans from NASA and ESA suggest a manned Mars mission
within 20 years. Mars analog stations have been
simulating various aspects of such a Mars station, like those installed
in Utah and the Arctic by the Mars Society.
In addition to the experience gained in technical and scientific
aspects, the analog stations draw the public attention towards the
quest for Mars.
Now the Berlin station shifts the focus away from the
scientific field over to the cultural and social conditions for a real
mission. Instead of searching fossiles in rocks we imagine a future
culture that will drive human beings to go to Mars. The 'Mars
rocks' project starts research on this culture, in the fields of music,
art, engineering and debate.
There will be specially composed electronic music, sessions from the
local DJ scene, a live chainsaw sculpture, an on-site as well as
on-line conference, a robot contest, space-food and more.
The program can be found on the web (in german) at:
http://mars-rocks.de/programm
Organizer of the project is a group of culture activists that
will continue to promote the manned Mars mission under the label 'Mars
rocks'.
Contact information can be found on Impressum.
The other texts are still german only - sorry.
For an overview of what happened have a look into the
Picture Gallery.
Mars rocks | oststrand - Muehlenstr. / ostbahnhof | Berlin, Germany
