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Launch

Launch Date:

7 March 2020

Launch Mission:

SpaceX CRS-20

Launch Operator:

SpaceX

Rocket:

Falcon 9

Launch Vehicle:

Dragon C112

Launch Location:

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA

2020-016A

COSPAR id:

In Space

Host:

International Space Station

Type:

Space Station

Operator:

Multinational

Location:

Low Earth Orbit, Geocentric Orbit

COSPAR id:

1998-067A

Return

Return Date:

6 April 2020

Return Mission:

SpaceX CRS-20

Return Vehicle:

Dragon C112

Landing Location:

Pacific Ocean

COSPAR id:

2020-016A

Updated:

8/7/24

status:

Returned

Mission Profile

Partners:

Henry Tan

Artist

Artist(s)

Collection

This artwork is part of a collection:

Sojourner 2020 - An international art payload to ISS

2020

Pearl of Lunar is a continuation of the project titled The Merchants Trinity which explored infrastructural desire and the futurity of Belt-and-Road Initiatives as seen through wealth accumulation, labor infiltration, and geopolitical control.

Pearl of Lunar is a continuation of the project titled The Merchants Trinity which explored infrastructural desire and the futurity of Belt-and-Road Initiatives as seen through wealth accumulation, labor infiltration, and geopolitical control. But also, more ephemerally, the affective meshwork of greed and possessiveness that functions at the level of the individual and corporate entities. Through researching unfinished projects such as the Kra Canal, Space Technology Roadmap and Digital Belt and Road, we map complex relationships between China and the rest of the world. Departing from a motif of the pearl as a signifier of ambitious strategies and predatory tendencies in the oceanic sphere. Pearl of Lunar portrays both the ancient and future ambitions of the project of the historic Silk Road. The Synchrotron light engraves an unfinished roadmap. The pearl of lunar then sends with a rocket to Low Earth Orbit atmosphere while chemical reactions assemble Nacre or Mother of Pearl which ultimately reflects the future roadmap of an Earth-Moon “Special Economic Zone”. This project is collaborated with Xin Liu, MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative Pearl of Lunar is part of Sojourner 2020 project with other 8 artist group. The works appear at International Space Station for 1 month. Sojourner 2020 (a 1.5U size unit, 100mm x 100mm x 152.4mm ) will be launched into low Earth orbit for about 30 days. It features a three-layer telescoping structure which creates three different “gravities”: zero gravity, lunar gravity, and Martian gravity. Each layer of the structure rotates independently. The top layer remains still in weightlessness, while the middle and bottom layers spin at different speeds to produce centripetal accelerations that mimic lunar gravity and Martian gravity, respectively. Each layer carries 6 pockets that can hold projects.
Dimensions:

1 x 1.2 cm

Medium:

Fresh water pearl

Genre:

Pearl of Lunar

Henry Tan

Thailand

2020

Pearl of Lunar

2020

Returned
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