The history of space exploration is filled with images that have become part of our collective memory: the first footprints on the Moon, astronauts working on the lunar surface, spacecraft travelling towards other planets, rovers exploring Mars and telescopes searching for new worlds around distant stars.
Now, at Astronauta LiLi, we want to transform some of these iconic images and missions into physical objects capable of preserving and telling their stories.
We have created a new collection of laser-engraved crystals dedicated to space exploration and some of the most important missions in space history. The project was initially developed following requests from the European Space Agency (ESA) and for different science and space museums, including the Museo Lunar – Space and Science Centre.
Designed and created by our team
One of the most important aspects of this collection is that we do much more than simply select images from space missions.
The designs of the different pieces have been created by our own team, carefully developing each composition to represent the most recognisable elements of each mission while creating an attractive object for both educational and decorative purposes.
We have also recently incorporated new laser engraving equipment, allowing us to transfer these designs inside the crystals with a high level of detail.
The result is a series of three-dimensional representations that appear to float inside the crystal. When illuminated from below, spacecraft, astronauts, planets, rovers and other elements become even more visible.
This allows us to control an increasing part of the entire production process ourselves: from the original concept and digital design to its transformation into a physical object using laser technology.
Small windows into the history of space exploration
Each crystal is dedicated to a mission, spacecraft or particularly significant moment in the history of space exploration.
The collection begins with the historic Apollo missions, including moments associated with Apollo 11 and the first human exploration of the lunar surface, and continues through to some of the most important European scientific and technological missions of today and the near future.
One of them is BepiColombo, the joint ESA-JAXA mission to Mercury. Launched in 2018, the spacecraft has spent years travelling through the inner Solar System and is now approaching the final stages of its remarkable journey to the closest planet to the Sun.
Another design is dedicated to Plato, ESA’s upcoming planet-hunting mission. Plato will study stars and search for planets around them, with a particular interest in rocky planets orbiting Sun-like stars.
The collection also features Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation system and one of the continent’s major technological space programmes.
And we also look towards Mars with Rosalind Franklin, the European ExoMars rover designed to investigate the Martian environment and search for evidence related to the possibility of past life.
From the Moon to Mercury, Mars and other planetary systems
One of the things we particularly like about this collection is the possibility of bringing together very different generations of space exploration.
Apollo represents our past. BepiColombo is making history today. Galileo represents space technology that is already part of our everyday lives. Rosalind Franklin represents the future exploration of Mars. And Plato will look much further away, studying new worlds around other stars.
They are very different missions, but they all share something fundamental: our curiosity and desire to understand what exists beyond our own planet.
That is precisely what we want to capture inside each crystal.
From digital design to laser engraving
The addition of our new equipment is allowing us to experiment with a new way of creating our own science and space-related products.
We start with images, models and concepts associated with each mission and develop a design specifically adapted to the dimensions and characteristics of the crystal. Then, using laser engraving technology, the design is reproduced three-dimensionally inside it.
The illuminated base completes the effect, highlighting the engraving and creating the impression of having a small spacecraft, astronaut, rover or even a planet suspended inside the crystal.
This technology also opens up many possibilities for creating new bespoke designs for museums, exhibitions, scientific events and future space missions.
A collection that will continue to grow
We do not want this to be a closed collection.
Space exploration continues to advance, and every year brings new missions, launches, discoveries and historic moments worth remembering.
That is why we will progressively add new designs, covering both the history of space exploration and the missions that are making history right now.
The collection already includes pieces inspired by Apollo 11, Apollo 17, BepiColombo, Plato, Galileo, Rosalind Franklin, Perseverance, Mars rovers, space stations and launch vehicles, among other space-related designs.
Science you can also touch
In museums and science centres, we are used to discovering space through photographs, videos, models, virtual reality and interactive experiences.
With these crystals, we want to add another possibility: turning a space mission into a small physical object that can be observed, illuminated, touched and kept.
A single object can inspire a question. That question can lead someone to discover a mission. And that mission can spark an interest in astronomy, engineering, science or technology.
That is the purpose of this new collection: to design and manufacture small objects capable of continuing to tell the great stories of space exploration.
From the first human footsteps on the Moon to Mercury, Mars and the search for new planets around distant stars, there are still many stories waiting to be captured in crystal.
The first designs are already available in the Astronauta LiLi store:
