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Motion Detector No. 26: “Life on Mars?”

20.03.2025
Museum Europäischer Kulturen

In the Motion Detector series, the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK, Museum of European Cultures) presents objects from the collection and loans related to topics concerning people in Europe. Since 10 March 2025, the 26th Motion Detector focusing on Life on Mars? can be seen in the foyer of the MEK until further notice.

Will the first human set foot on Mars in 2025? The 2000 movie Red Planet imagined it that way, but in reality we are still far from reaching Mars.

Since the late 19th century, people have increasingly dreamed of traveling to other planets, first in books and later in movies. At the same time, technological progress brought space travel closer to reality, until the first human walked on the moon in 1969.

The rapid development of space travel was closely tied to the Cold War. The competition between the Soviet Union and the USA led to massive investments. As global power dynamics shifted, space exploration lost some of its importance – and no event since has matched the excitement of the moon landing.

Today, the moon is no longer the final goal. Plans for the first human mission to Mars and even colonization are becoming more serious. Some see Mars as a refuge for humanity in case Earth becomes uninhabitable. Others are interested in the potential economic benefits of Mars' resources. But important questions remain:

• Shouldn’t we use these resources to protect our own planet instead?
• Who really benefits from a Mars mission – all of humanity or just a handful of billionaires?

The fascination with space travel is also reflected in the MEK's collection: comics, toys, and books tell stories of distant worlds and strange beings. Across the Iron Curtain, children were fascinated by space – but the division of Germany left its mark: while (toy) space travellers were called cosmonauts in East Germany (GDR), they were called astronauts in West Germany (FRG).

In the Motion Detector series, the MEK displays objects from its collection to point to current topics and debates.