A student film produced by Susan Hibberd of the University of Sussex exploring space exploration and the exploitation of asteroids and other planets for resources. A man opens the observation window at an astronomy observatory, outside the night sky with the celestial view speeding past along with the changing patterns of stars and shooting stars darting across the field of view. The lights in some of the buildings in the foreground glow pink. A crater on the moon and what appears to be a...

A student film produced by Susan Hibberd of the University of Sussex exploring space exploration and the exploitation of asteroids and other planets for resources. A man opens the observation window at an astronomy observatory, outside the night sky with the celestial view speeding past along with the changing patterns of stars and shooting stars darting across the field of view. The lights in some of the buildings in the foreground glow pink. A crater on the moon and what appears to be a lunar eclipse where the moon takes on an orange hue as it tracks across the sky. A phantom car ride through trees and mist, the dish of a radio telescope in the distance. The car follows a perimeter road showing more of the radio telescopes and ancillary buildings. Title: Jodrell Bank Observatory The tour of the observatory site continues, with open grassland, trees and single storey buildings dotted around the area. A view follows of the rear of one of the larger dishes at the observatory. In an office an astronomer talks about the study and exploration of space and the universe and Man’s place in it. Title: Professor Tim O’Brien Jodrell Bank Observatory The film changes to a large dragline excavator at work in an open cast mine with smaller excavators and mechanical shovels in the background. The machine is ‘Big Geordie’ once the biggest machine of its kind in Western Europe. The excavator then deploys its huge bucket to carry away more spoil. A worker prepares a detonator to set off explosives. The explosion is triggered bringing down tons of rock from a rock face at quarry or open cast mine. Title: Heavenly Minefields Title: ‘The race is on to be the first to mine an asteroid profitably and become one of the biggest corporations of the 21st century.’ Mitch Hunter-Scullion CEO, The Asteroid Mining Corporation Two men stand next to a large mining conveyor followed by torrents of water appearing from a concrete culvert. In near darkness a worker in orange overalls walks along a flooded channel towards the camera. Heavy machinery at work. One of the excavators has a name displayed on it which reads; ‘Woolridge demolition’. The excavator continues its work removing debris from the demolition site. A young man appears on screen, he outlines the need for retrieving minerals from space. Title Mitch Hunter-Scullion, CEO Asteroid Mining Corporation He continues explaining that environmental damage will continue on Earth unless we try and retrieve what we need from space. He continues to speak over four industrial cooling towers emitting steam. Heavy equipment at work at the demolition site seen previously. Title: 1km diameter asteroid pf metallic platinum = £9.115 trillion. A conveyor belt within a tunnel carrying minerals off into the distance changes to a train of wagons passing the camera at speed along a railway line. A crater on the moon and ‘Big Geordie’, the large excavator at work at an open cast coal mine. The commentary changes as a doctor at King’s College London speaks of his concerns with regards to space mining. Title: Dr Tony Milligan - King’s College London Title: ‘Outer Space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all states on a basis of equality.’ Outer Space Treaty 1967 A large cluster of stars with the camera moves towards it. Another contributor speaks over the image urging caution over companies exploiting resources away from Earth without addressing a number of issues. Title: Dr Christoph Beischl, London Institute of Space Policy and Law A country road changes to several low single storey buildings, the largest has a red roof. One of the buildings is round and has a silver dome. Title: Vogelsberg Observatory Germany A man comes out of the observatory and locks the door, he walks into the larger building. He provides some commentary in German as he attends to several smaller telescopes located on a flat roof looking into the viewfinder of one of them. Title: ‘Recently the founder of Amazon launched 60 small satellites, he wants to create a global internet network. In total he wants to launch 12000 satellites into space. I think its environmental pollution, as far as I’m concerned, it’s completely pointless. The only reason for it is about making a profit and to get more people consuming The moon moves into darkness and then is bathed in an orange glow as it moves across the sky as Dr Tony Milligan raises concerns of a ‘Wild West’ type free for all in the pursuit of space resources. Views of the landscape near the Vogelsberg Observatory. The German commentator speaks again. Title: In October I’m giving a talk here about the journey to Mars, with a big question mark about it all The speaker appears on screen Title: Reinhard Braden, Amateur Astronomer Title: Because I just don’t see the sense in believing that by colonising space we can somehow evade the problems we’ve got here on Earth. The film changes back to the telescopes on the flat roof where he was seen earlier in the film. Title: We’ve got enough problems here on Earth we need to deal with. I think space exploration is important and worthwhile, but I think the possibility of sending people to Mars makes much less sense. I think it’s a complete waste of money and is more to do with publicity. When the Americans get there first, they can say ‘we’re the greatest’ A warning notice attached to a wire fence which reads, ‘Danger Men at work’ followed by the full moon at night with sounds of heavy plant vehicles accompanying it. An image of the moon across open water, on which the light from the moon is reflected. Professor Tim O’Connor voices his strong misgivings about the idea of mining minerals in space. From a beach the sun over a calm sea. It sits lower in the sky near to the horizon. The film commentary at this point warns of possibly reckless ambitions by companies may ultimately harm access to space as well as hinder progress to solve problems on Earth intercut with views of the smaller telescopes at the Vogelsberg observatory in Germany. Some of the telescopes are shrouded in white cloth. In the main observatory the amateur astronomer Reinhard Braden attends to the large telescope. He then closes the observatory observation window. In the semi darkness he gets down from the steps near the window. Title: In memory of my parents End credit: filmed, directed, and edited by Susan Hibberd End credit: with special thanks to Christoph Beischl, Reinhard Braden, Mitch Hunter-Scullion, Tony Milligan, Tim O’Brien, And Yumi Mashiki End credit: With thanks to Roswitha Braden, Anne Coutant, Rahma Utami Darmin Paul Greenland, Tadesu Hasegawa, Bridget Schilizzi, Richard Schilizzi End credit: with thanks to Alisa Lebow and the equipment and store technicians School of Media, Film and Music University of Sussex End credit: with thanks to Jodrell Bank Observatory, London Institute of Space Policy and Law, Sternenwelt Vogelsberg Germany, The Asteroid Mining Corporation End credit: Music composition by Yumi Mashiki End credit: North East Film Archive, Yorkshire Film Archive End credit: further archive material South East Screen Archive, Reinhard Braden Sternenwelt Vogelsberg Germany, British Library Sounds, Freesound.org End credit: Produced at the School of Media, Film and Music University of Sussex 2019