Space Day
A little Review
On June 16, 2023 we invited to the open action day! The Space Day took place on Schadowplatz and in the nearby Haus der Universität ("University House") and formed the center of the project. Games, comics, mind games ... Our universe is part of diverse contents and is also reflected in art, literature and philosophy. On Space Day, space was illuminated from cultural and humanistic perspectives in an interactive and participatory way.
An overview of the highlights from Space Day
the mobile planetarium
As a special attraction, a mobile planetarium provided by Zeiss-Planetarium in Jena (website in German only) was located on Schadowplatz. Throughout the day, many shows took place there, which transported visitors mentally and atmospherically into the universe. The shows Our Universe, Explore, Space Tour und Voyager inspired citizens and gave them an insight into the history of astronomy or took them to the most beautiful places in space.
denXte Thought Experiment
At the beginning of June, the space crew of the denXterprise spaceship was on a big mission. The cadets investigated exciting questions. How do we deal with a second planet if we discover it? And what if someone gets infected with a space virus during the journey? Excerpts of the evening were presented at two slots of the Space Day and the visitors were also allowed to face the riddles and questions of space.
icon Science Slam
The scientists of the comic research network icon of the hhu presented different research impulses around the topic "Comics & Space". The format of the science slam is very special: The aim is to communicate scientific content in front of a large audience and in an entertaining way.
Fishbowl Discussion
Space tourism - lost in space or destination for all?
Elon Musk (Tesla), Richard Branson (Virgin Group) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) agree: space will soon be within reach for us all. But is it that simple? Together with Reinhold Ewald (astronaut), Jean-Pierre de Vera (DLR space researcher) and Beate Fischer (astronaut trainer and biomedical engineer), visitors actively participated in the discussion and described their impressions. Anna Soßdorf was the moderator. Missed the discussion? Click here to watch the discussion in full length (in German only).
Space Concert
The finale of the Space Day was an acoustic one! Immediately after the fishbowl discussion, the UNICHOR of the HHU (choir) took the audience on an atmospheric journey through the universe. A special highlight was the glass harmonica that accompanied the choir: the instrument is considered to have a beautiful sound and is deeply impressive. It was played by Sebastian Reckert.
Gallery Walk
UNIVERSEH – the European Space University for Earth and Humanity – is an alliance of five higher education institutes from five European countries. The network is supported by the European Commission, among other partners, and represents a new form of collaboration in the area of space research. This makes the Space Day a “home game” for UNIVERSEH, so to speak, and the alliance will be showcasing what it has to offer in an interactive Gallery Walk.
Space Deck
Children and young people presented the results from the workshops already held in the spring. In mission A "Game Jam" and mission B "Comic Exhibition", the participants designed their own computer games and drew 4-Koma mangas.
On Space Day, these results could be viewed and, in addition, own game prototypes could be designed as well as an excerpt of the Japanese science fiction story could be drawn, which has not yet been put on paper to complete the story.
