The European Space Agency's (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, known as Juice, launched last week from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Set to arrive at Jupiter in 2031, the spacecraft will study three Jovian moons located three-quarters of a billion km from the sun – Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. Their ice-covered oceans could provide homes for living organisms: Europa is considered the only one capable of harbouring life; while Callisto is a heavily cratered moon and Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, is also the only moon in the solar system with its own magnetic field, so there will be a lot to study there.
While the three moons are the main subject of the research, Juice will also study Jupiter's Great Red Spot (that is shrinking), its enormous polar auroras, and how its magnetic field shapes conditions on the gas giant's nearby moons.
It is fascinating thinking about explorations of remote worlds and in particular about this eight-year voyage to study the habitability of distant moons (Juice is not equipped to detect life, but will search for pockets of water and the elements and energy sources essential for life).
The mysteries of the universe are very inspiring for us all, but they are particularly intriguing for creative minds: for decades, the space and the moon captivated indeed the imagination of designers and architects who came up with ideas for spacesuits, super modern wardrobes and space habitats and bases.
As the possibility of establishing permanent human settlements in space is no longer a far-fetched idea, but it is becoming increasingly plausible, developing comfortable, sustainable and safe lunar habitats or finding innovative solutions for materials to use in space has become crucial for many designers, including Samira Boon.
Studio Samira Boon will be presenting a selection of their flexible and adaptive textile installations that accommodate and regulate spatial circulation, efficient energy usage, light and acoustic ambience during Milan Design Week (until 23rd April).
The design studio is showcasing its textiles as part of the collective exhibition "Masterly, the Dutch in Milano" at Palazzo Giureconsulti.
Among the other designs on display there is also Sprout, a mini-object made from Kombutex that was sent to the International Space Station as part of the Moongallery project to investigate the extraterrestrial potential of this material.
Kombutex is a 100% biodegradable bio material developed from in-depth researches into kombucha scoby biofilm. Scoby stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" – a term that refers to the living culture used to ferment sweet tea into kombucha; the scoby forms a thick, rubbery disc on the surface of the tea, which is sometimes referred to as a "kombucha mushroom".
Kombutex is a dormant bacterial culture integrating moss that has the power to grow and generate sustainable and biodiverse indoor ecosystems, offering in this way smart opportunities to tackle the challenges of indoor air quality and create a healthier environment.
The textile was developed during the research project Living Aero Bacterial Systems (LABS): Future Interiors, in collaboration with the HybridFormsLab of Raoul Frese / Biophysics of Photosynthesis VU Amsterdam, that focused on creating living textiles developed from microorganisms to make indoor climate more sustainable.
The first Kombutex results were showcased at the Embassy of Health during the 2020 Dutch Design Week with the desk divider KOMBOUquet, a piece that integrated various types of Kombutex, soft and hard, translucent and opaque, in symbiosis with other cultures. This piece demonstrated the versatility of the material to create healthy, living environments that control the airflow and purify the air.
Sprout is a small piece, characterized by an embedded origami pattern (Studio Samira Boon often moved from Japanese origami for its designs, but also SAGA Space Architects and NASA used origami to come up with structures for space travelling/living as this technique allows to create compact and dynamic designs) and created as a sample of a living origami structure that can provide unique benefits to human habitats on and off Earth.
Sprout was sent last February to the International Space Station as part of the Moon Gallery project. Organised by the interdisciplinary platform Moon Gallery Foundation, this project connecting art, space and design, invites creative minds to submit a small artwork (no bigger than one cubic centimeter), inspired by space and the moon. The artwork is then included in a box that gets then sent into space (the first space flight was sent last year and docked at the International Space Station, but there's currently a year-round open call for art projects and artefacts in case you want to take part in the project – check it out at this link).
The project holds great significance for two main reasons: firstly, it initiates a discussion about human exploration as small artworks made on Earth are sent into space, and secondly, it offers artists an opportunity to assess the performance of their creations in microgravity.
While space travel entails prolonged periods of research and strenuous efforts to reach distant planets, the endeavor is worthwhile, and, with artists, architects and designers getting more interested in going beyond our earthly confines, it becomes evident that imaginative and innovative design will play a crucial role in our quest towards the ultimate frontier.
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