Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Page 80

space memorabilia

Cyprus’
Celestial
Challenge
innovative thinking and collaboration. Most
recently, Science Hack Day was staged on April
6-7 at the Home for Cooperation in Nicosia,
where the focus was placed upon the designing
of apps, robotics and relevant gadgets.
An official release from The Cyprus Space
Office explained: “With the rise of Citizen Science
projects and private companies developing
the capabilities for space travel, the time has
come for Cyprus to develop its plans to join the
international community in exploring space.”
The organisation’s macro-aspirations include
ith eyes longingly challenge? To land a robot on the Moon by the
the creation of unmanned and manned orbital
end of 2015.
piercing the sky
launch vehicles, the training of teachers, and the
With a $20 million (€14.82 million) prize at the
and hopes high,
utilising of space industry developments to drive
a newly-launched finish line, Synergy Moon (alongside its fellow
local economy and support job creation.
Cypriot company 24 teams) is working feverishly to succeed in
Trifouki elaborates: “The benefits (of space
safely landing a robot on the surface of the Moon,
has set its
travel) include monitoring our environment,
ensuring it travels 500 metres over the lunar
sights on space
surface and sends audiovisual data back to earth. research into improving our health and transport
exploration.
systems, and developing technology which can
The Cyprus Space Office is contributing
The Cyprus Space Office is a proud new member
fuel innovation and create jobs to boost our
heavily on the education front, with head Sotira
of Synergy Moon, a private space company
economy. The possibilities are endless.”
Trifourki developing projects that encourage
competing for the Google Lunar X Prize. The

W

2012, experts were quick to declare values
as being expected to soar and, sure enough,
an auction held by Bonhams New York on
March 25, 2013 saw an image (taken from
the telecast by the Apollo 11 lunar space
camera) that had been signed by Armstrong
sell for €11,800.
Flown items have, likewise, been generating impressive – and pleasantly surprising – numbers in the auction market. In
Bonhams’ aforementioned auction (aptly
named ‘The Space History Sale’), a flown
United States flag, made of silk and spanning a mere 4 by 6 inches, inspired one
buyer to bid a winning €15,650.
Indeed, inspiring history seems to be
the very key to being able to demand, and
command, such high figures. Many experts
agree that the idealisation of man at his finest hour, and the desire to own items pivotal to stirring narratives, is the crux upon
which space memorabilia is balanced. A recent UK-based study suggests that the gen-

eration who watched impressionably as
initial advancements were made in space
in the 1960s and ‘70s (the so-called baby
boomer generation) is now in control
of 80% of the nation’s wealth. Desire,
demand, and ability to deliver payment
have grown hand-in-hand. Consider the
sale of an Apollo 13 checklist (p.79 top
left) upon which astronaut James Lovell
hurriedly made crucial calculations that
would see the spacecraft safely guided
home, averting disaster, following an
oxygen tank explosion. It