Space + Art
This week we learned about the significance of space exploration within the last century. Beginning the lecture, we viewed the film “Powers of Ten,” which ever since I have been in school I have seen countless times, yet I still remain fascinated by its perspective every time. In an amazing way, the film demonstrates the significance of adding zeroes to numbers, how much just one zero can affect the perception of things from seeing a person laying down overhead, to being able to see the cells of that same person’s skin. Being able to see this exploration of the relative size of things in our universe and beyond was fascinating.
Following this short film, we were guided to watch the next lectures in which explained the significance of the history of studying space and astronomy, as well as recent-age discoveries, projects, explorations, and advancements. While for many centuries, space was studied by mathematicians and astronomers who observed heliocentric systems of buckyballs, the advancement of space and technology was first seen after World War 2, following the atomic bomb.
The United States and the Soviet Union were two competing nations during post WW2 and the Cold War that were competing in both advancement of war and space technologies, but as well as the advancement of physical exploration in space. During this time, multiple animals such as a dog and chimpanzees were sent into space to test the ability of living organisms to survive in space. Following these experiments, humans were later able to travel and accomplish several missions such as orbiting the earth, landing on the moon, but with other experiences including multiple deaths due to faulty technology.
Throughout the 20th century, there was a rush, a competition, between nations to explore space and its physicality, but as society progressed into the 21st century, space exploration moved into a private domain, known as space exploitation, rather than exploration. Companies such as Planetary Resources apply a commercial innovation to space exploration and other commercial innovations such as flights to space, or even robotic space mining industry became more prevalent.
Photo References:
Becker, Joachim. “Apollo 13.” Spaceflight Mission Report: Apollo 13, www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/apollo-13.htm. Accessed 31 May 2024.
“Jila Researchers Uncover Quantum Structure of Buckyballs.” NIST, 22 Sept. 2021, www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2019/01/jila-researchers-uncover-quantum-structure-buckyballs.
Powers of Ten (1977) by Charles and Ray Eames | the Kid Should See This, thekidshouldseethis.com/post/eames-powers-of-ten. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Works Cited
“Powers of Ten.” Charles Eames, 1969.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 1. UCLA.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 2. UCLA.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 3. UCLA.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 4. UCLA.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 5. UCLA.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Lecture Part 6. UCLA.
Hi Rebecca, great blog post this week. I particularly like your discussion on the Space Race and how space exploration has transformed to be more commercialized, possibly exploiting space. It is interesting to see how goals and ambitions within countries have shifted in the field of science.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca! Great blog post I loved your perspective on the film, “Powers of Ten”. I also think it’s super interesting how zeroes can really make that big of a difference especially scientifically. I loved your explanation of the Cold War tensions between the US and Soviet Union and how that affected the two cultures of Space and art.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca, I thought it was super interesting when you talked about space exploration and the commercial innovations that will help the development of studying outer space. Great post. Loved reading your stuff all year.
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