Space mural

Earlier this year, the the city of Malargüe in Argentina held their annual Spring Festival with music concerts, traditional food and a parade.

The week prior to the event, there was a workshop for people interested in wall painting – ‘murales’ in Spanish. On a lovely spring morning, many people – mostly groups of school students – began working on their murales, to be drawn on certain walls where the owners had granted permission.

When the day was done, one of the walls was finished with a wonderful painting showing a satellite together with ESA’s 35 m-diameter deep-space tracking station, opened in December 2012 and sitting just a few kilometres outside the city.

The student artists who created this ‘space mural’ called themselves the ‘Trio Payun’, comprising Hugo Orlando Aravena, Lucas Martin Cerda and Iván Garcia y Ramos, all from the Escuela 3-034 Maestro Julio Andrés Mercado school, Malargüe. The team worked under the supervision of an adult, Omar Riquelme.

The painting includes the students’ initials, as well as the messages ‘Naturaleza y desarrollo’ (Nature and development) and ‘Cuidemosla’ (Let’s take care of it!).

The trio said their artistic aim was to, “Show the economy, flora, fauna and also the ‘big importance’ that this place has for the people of Malargüe.”

Congratulations and sincere thanks to the artists for their excellent work!

Editor’s note: the ESA Communication Department will ensure that the students receive a cool ESA tee-shirt.

More information

Estrack - Malargüe station

Malargüe station webcam

Escuela 3-034 Maestro Julio Andrés Mercado in Facebook

Malargüe city