Towards a cooperation between the arts, space science research and the european space agency

The arts offer alternative insights into reality - which is explored by science in general, and broadened by the activities conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and other space agencies. Similar to the way the members of ESA are ambassadors for spaceflight and science, artists and cultural professionals are ambassadors for human expression, experimentation, and exploration. In June 2011, the ESA Topical Team Arts & Sciences (ETTAS), held a three-day workshop at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. During this workshop, topics and ideas were discussed to develop cooperations between the arts, sciences and ESA to foster and expand the human and cultural aspects of space exploration, and at the same time offer a means of communication, which would aim to reach audiences beyond the scope of traditional spacerelated channels. The preliminary findings and consensus of the team was that establishing and sustaining a transdisciplinary professional community consisting of ESA representatives, scientists and artists would fuel knowledge transfer, and mutual inspiration.