Invader art at ESOC - infographic

Linking the International Space Station and ESA establishments in Europe, mosaic artworks inspired by the archetype 1970s Space Invaders video game have been found colonising ESA centres. This image charts the progress of the art installation so far.

After ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti found a space invader called ‘Space2’ in the Columbus space laboratory, the space-themed art has appeared at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany and at ESA’s Redu Centre in Belgium, where satellites are controlled and tested as part of ESA’s ground station network.

Their last sighting was at ESA’s spacecraft operations centre ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany.

A French artist, known as Invader, has established his urban alien artwork in 60 cities all over the world, including Rome, Paris, New York, Manchester, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. In 2012 he sent a mosaic into the stratosphere on a high-altitude balloon.

Mission control thinks Invader will organise more invasions and activate aliens at other ESA sites  throughout the year. Follow the progress on Twitter via #space2iss and #SpaceInvader.