Rocket Science?! How the ESA Engages Fans Through Games

Rocket Science?! How the ESA Engages Fans Through Games

GAME TALK

Presentation/Talk with Pacal Wagner and Sonja Prlić

How do you actually communicate science through games, especially when it comes to something as complex as space travel? Hardly anyone has been as successful at it as the European Space Agency, whose rockets feature in games ranging from serious games to blockbuster entertainment.

In recent years, the ESA has been involved in numerous games, from Lunar Crater Exploration, in which lunar photos are analyzed, to the virtual moon landing Mission to Minerva, to the strategy sim ESA Shield, in which we save Earth from comets. The latest release is Aphelion, a third-person action-adventure game that takes us to the edge of the solar system. We’ll take a look at this: How do games convey the dream of rocket science? The lecture will be followed by a discussion with Sonja Prlić.

Pascal Wagner is a linguist and editor specializing in the games industry. He is the owner of the major industry news portal GamesMarket and the game studies and science communication platform Language at Play. Sonja Prlić is an artist and researcher at the Science & Art Salzburg research center.