Cube Box (2006 - 2010)
The Vision
I was fascinated by an article in the newspapers back in 2004 about two American built robotic rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that landed independently from each other on the planet Mars as part of NASA’s ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_rover). As they dropped towards the Martian surface, parachutes opened and rockets were fired (RAD) to decrease the speed of impact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover). After the airbag-protected spacecraft lander bounced around for a while and finally settled onto the surface, the airbags deflated and the sides of the tetrahedron shaped lander opened like petals. From the revealed platform the rover then sent panoramic images to earth where mission control decided on which petal it was safest to depart the spacecraft lander and start its exploration on the foreign surface.
... magically opened like the leaves of a flower ... that was the big vision for a box for the Cube.
MER lander petals opening (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Spirit’s lander on Mars.
Transformation
Early on I spoke with my brother, Albert, who lives and works in Switzerland (trained machine mechanic), about a box for the Cube for protection and transportation and revealed my vision to him. As he has helped me on several previous pieces like the linear motion apparatus for Lament of The Images by Alfredo Jaar, he was willing to engage on this one very quickly as well.
The main point was to create something fascinating and special since I perceive the Cube as such. It has to be simple in its appearance and easy to manipulate. Otherwise it would not be worth the effort and I could go and have a crate built. But that’s where it starts:
-
-How does the Cube get into the crate? A crate always has a pallet to be easily handled by a pallet jack. That means the bottom of the crate is elevated at least to the height of the pallet. But the Cube needs to roll in and out of its box with ease, no lifting involved.
-
-The other thing is that the crate has to be reusable. That means it needs a certain sturdiness.
The parameter was set for the Cube Box.
