Photographer Edgar Martins boldly captures the intriguing European Space Agency

The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite is the most comprehensive photography series ever made about a leading scientific and space exploration organisation. For the first time in its history, The European Space Agency (ESA) granted a visual artist exclusive and unparalleled access to all of its facilities, staff, programs, technology, and private-aerospace industry partners.

Entrance to high bay of Compact Payload Test Range for antenna testing (CPTR)(ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Entrance to high bay of Compact Payload Test Range for antenna testing (CPTR)(ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

With Edgar Martins selected for the mission, the photographer travelled and documented 15 separate facilities worldwide, including the UK, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Kazakhstan, and French Guiana. These locations ranged from test centres, robotics departments, jet propulsion laboratories, space simulators, launch sites and platforms, astronaut training centres and training modules, satellites and technological components, payload/launcher assembly and integration rooms.

Edgar remarks: "The project looks to critically engage with the ESA and its partners’ programs, whilst also reflecting on the new politics of space exploration and the impact of this kind of technological application on our social consciousness."

If you're intrigued by Edgar's work, you can see The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite on display at FORMAT, the UK's largest photography festival which this year explores the theme of "habitat". Launching at various venues around Derby from 24 March, and running until 23 April 2017. More details can be found at formatfestival.com.

You can also purchase a new book on the project, The Rehearsal of Space and The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite, published by The Moth House.

All images courtesy of FORMAT | The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite, 2014 @ Edgar Martins

Main image: Entrance to high bay of Compact Payload Test Range for antenna testing (CPTR)(ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Assembly of the Near InfraRed spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument,  one of four instruments on the ESA- NASA James Webb Space Telescope (Airbus Defence and Space, Ottobrunn ISO Class 5 Integration Facility, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Assembly of the Near InfraRed spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument, one of four instruments on the ESA- NASA James Webb Space Telescope (Airbus Defence and Space, Ottobrunn ISO Class 5 Integration Facility, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Cabling used during testing of ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk (The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Cabling used during testing of ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk (The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Maxwell Electromagnetic Test Chamber (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) Mobile gantry for the Vega launcher, seen from underneath (CSG - Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana) @ Edgar Martins

Maxwell Electromagnetic Test Chamber (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) Mobile gantry for the Vega launcher, seen from underneath (CSG - Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana) @ Edgar Martins

S5 payload preparation complex – spacecraft fuelling bay (CSG - Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana) @ Edgar Martins

S5 payload preparation complex – spacecraft fuelling bay (CSG - Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana) @ Edgar Martins

Acoustic Test facility (IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Acoustic Test facility (IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Full-scale model of an ISS module (Airbus Defence and Space, Bremen @ Edgar Martins

Full-scale model of an ISS module (Airbus Defence and Space, Bremen @ Edgar Martins

Horn of acoustic test facility (IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Horn of acoustic test facility (IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany) @ Edgar Martins

Interior of Large Space Simulator Vaccum Chamber (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Interior of Large Space Simulator Vaccum Chamber (ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands) @ Edgar Martins

Share

Get the best of Creative Boom delivered to your inbox weekly