The first deployable sculpture on the Moon

The first deployable sculpture on the moon. Conceived by the artist Anilore Banon, it is a living sculpture and tribute to life (vitae in latin), uniting people across the planet through the alliance of art and science. One million handprints are in the process of being collected throughout the world to be engraved on the sculpture, before its journey to the Moon. To achieve her goal, Anilore Banon has gathered over the last 10 years a collective of world-class scientists to overcome all the constraints of Lunar atmosphere and the complexity of the travels. You can find all the steps in more details here.

Following unprecedented events, from the Fukushima tragedy to the terrible Twin towers attacks, artist Anilore Banon started reflecting on a way to unite humanity in a world where adversity and individuality are becoming the norm. While searching for the ideal location, unifying all religions, generations and nations, the Moon stroke Anilore as the perfect destination, a universal and long time guardian of our beloved Earth.

Anilore Banon is an internationally renowned artist and sculptress. Her work celebrates the immense power of humankind when united to overcome incredible challenges. Anything becomes possible if we unite our energy and talent. She has been inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “Art and Science are the most efficient messengers for Peace” and works closely with scientists and engineers on all of her realizations.

The artist wanted the sculpture to be “alive” without mechanism. So The materials chosen and tested for VITAE are Kapton and Nitinol (shape memory alloy). Closed as a cocoon during the Lunar days (with temperatures rising up to +150°C/302°F, VITAE opens up at night, when the temperature on the Moon reaches -120°C/  -184°F. The temperature activates the Nitinol to its pre-trained shapes. Once opened at night, VITAE deploys ‘the People’ (the stems representing a reunited humanity) and reveals all the handprints printed on the Kapton.

The Vi-Tal Parchment is the third step of VITAE’s spatial journey. It is already on board the first Astrobotic’s mission to the moon, announced to take off first quarter of 2023. Vi-Tal carries the essence of VITAE: its original drawings and blueprint to announce the future installation of the final VITAE sculpture on the moon. A state-of-the art laser engraving has been performed on a 0.14mm thick mylar sheet. To ensure its safe journey to the Moon, this engraved parchment is preserved in a titanium case designed by the artist and made by the CERN laboratory in Geneva.

Over the last 10 years, we have been working on the launch of VITAE, the first deployable sculpture on the moon. It represents a significant amount of time and ressources since we have partnered with top French and American institutions as well as world class experts to make this project a reality. The first flight capable of a lunar landing of its rover is Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One! aboard the United Alliance Launcher. We therefore seized the opportunity offered by Astrobotic to acquire a very small volume that was integrated on the rover. As it would not have been possible to fit the VITAE sculpture, the artist created Vi-Tal Parchment, out of the material used for the sculpture. The artistic and scientific essence of VITAE is laser-engraved on the parchment, rolled in a case designed by the artist built at CERN. In order to finance the building and travelling expenses of the final sculpture to the Moon in 2024.

Of course we have!

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• We are not getting our own private moon mission just to send the Vi-Tal Parchment or the final sculpture to the Moon. We are joining other scientific experiences and endeavors, be it for the test in microgravity aboard the ISS in 2017 or the Vi-Tal Parchment aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission set to take off early 2023.
• We have conceived a “green” sculpture that will not require anything but solar energy to ‘work’ on the moon.
• For the record, we have collected the hand of Climatologist …. who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize and enthusiastically supported VITAE project.