France: La Cité de l’Espace Explores Mars in New Interactive Show Terrain Martien

La Cité de l’Espace in the southwestern French metropolis of Toulouse – the capital of the European aerospace industry – is a theme and science park dedicated entirely to the fascination of space. Opened in 1997 and repeatedly modernized in recent years, the park’s focus is on the history and development of space travel and its highlights. For example, visitors can admire a replica of the “Ariane 5” in the outdoor area of the space park or learn interesting facts about our solar system and the lives of astronauts in the various, mostly interactive permanent exhibitions.

Last Tuesday (5 April), a new interactive show called “Terrain Martien – Les Rovers entrent en scène!” was opened to the public in the space park to bring the current Mars exploration, which is currently receiving a lot of attention, more to the fore. Conceived in collaboration with the French space agency CNES, the show permanently presents robotic Mars exploration on a 900-square-meter large crater landscape with rocks (implemented by the company PITEL; the company AAB contributed artificial rocks) that mimics the environment of the red planet. Up to 218 visitors can gather simultaneously in the spectator stands around the Mars presentation area to participate in the daily 30-minute demonstration. The protagonists of the show are the real-life replicas of the two Mars rovers “Perseverance” (NASA) and “Zhurong” (CAST), controlled by science park personnel. The originals of both robots are currently on Mars for exploration. The barrier-free science show is designed to help visitors understand how the robots work, how they move around the red planet and what missions they pursue.

For 2023, the Cité de l’Espace space park has already announced another highlight for visitors: The new simulator attraction “LuneXplorer”, supplied by Intamin, will allow guests to experience a journey to the moon. (eap)