The controversial artistic sculpture to be launched in space this week

Since the human being had the capacity, he entertained himself by sending objects into space. This includes satellites, rockets, cars, messages, etc. However, Soon, this would happen with the first artistic sculpture that we could see from home on Earth.

This is the project of the American artist Trevor Paglen. This man has been working for three years with the Art Museum of Nevada to realize his most ambitious project: the Orbital reflector, a sculpture designed to go into space.

The orbital reflector is a structure of about 100 meters long in the form of a diamond (or sword). It is a structure capable of deploying and inflating a balloon that is the essential of its size. In addition, the balloon material is polyethylene terephthalate, a type of highly reflective plastic. In other words, it can reflect sunlight on Earth.

This last characteristic is really important for the author. Paglen argues that the idea is that sculpture can be seen from the planet without the need for a telescope. Basically, it is camouflaged as if it were one more star in the sky.

We know that the launch of the sculpture is planned for the first of December. Who will take it into space will be neither more nor less than a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket. That day, they will reach a height of nearly 600 kilometers, where they will be released to orbit around the planet.

The critics

Of course, this project has attracted the attention of many people in recent years.. Members of scientific communities blame this action "a purely aesthetic project that will only add to the tons of debris already present in the space". This is something quite true because it is estimated that there are already at least 5,000 tons divided into at least 17,500 objects floating there.

In addition, it is criticized that this is a project with no obvious purpose. Something different from satellites that perform military, climatological, telecommunications, etc. With an investment of $ 1.3 million, it is natural for people to wonder if so much is worth it.

Paglen and the museum defended themselves by stating that sculpture would not be in space forever. In fact it is programmed that after two weeks it will enter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate. In addition, for the artist, this project represents a sample of "awareness of what already exists in the space".

Do you think this is an artistic show to see or do you consider it a waste of time and money?