On February 21st, 2019, the Hayabusa 2 Japanese probe successfully reached the surface of the asteroid Ryugu, approximately 290 million kilometers from Earth. The probe will bring samples of rock to Terra for detailed analysis.

A long journey into the unknown opens new perspectives in space exploration. This horizon, legally regulated by the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (General Assembly resolution 2222 (XXI), annex) - adopted on 19 December 1966, opened for signature on 27 January 1967, entered into force on 10 October 1967 extends the vital space beyond the borders of our planet.

Except for the Moon, reaching other worlds directly by humans is a distant dream. Technology helps us to be there in an indirect way. We are just the owners of the radio signals sent home by the probes. The distant worlds remain fascinating abstractions.

And yet it is possible that the next station, after the Moon, to be Mars. Then the idealism of Article 1 of the treaty could be rewritten. Will we still have the certainty of exploring and using extratmosferic space in the general interest of mankind? Will (again) be the scientific curiosity left in the shadow of political interest?

The installation was presented at W.A.S.P. Working Art Space & Production, Bucharest (June-July 2019).