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Paper short abstract

This talk examines analogue and literary simulations as sites of cislunar knowledge production. Using the materialities–infrastructure–imaginaries triad and drawing on STS and Literary Studies, I ask how imaginaries intertwine with materialities and reflect on the ‘otherwise’ in simulations.

Paper long abstract

Discussions concerning outer space generally emphasise impressive—and often iconic—technological artefacts such as rockets and highly contested infrastructures like spaceports. However, these represent only one aspect of the ongoing and profound techno-societal transformations, driven by public and private ambitions toward the Moon. My research investigates two specific sites of knowledge production for the emerging cislunar era: analogue and literary simulations. The former is exemplified by the LUNA Analog Facility in Cologne, Germany, which offers a 700m² replica of the Moon’s surface for equipment testing and mission rehearsals. The latter conceptualises science fiction as a long-standing venue for speculating about humanity’s extraterrestrial future(s). By using this panel’s kaleidoscopic lens of ‘materialities—infrastructure—imaginaries,’ I will scrutinise these sites towards uncovering, for example, whose and what kind of imaginaries shape the selection of materials and the infrastructure design for analogue simulations. Regarding science fiction, I argue that novels and short stories serve as “materialised imaginaries” – abstract imaginings rendered fixed within texts that persist over time, thereby enabling renewed engagement decades later. Literature provides a form of simulation that goes beyond current technoscientific boundaries and offers knowledge other than utopian visions of off-Earth societies. Authors and readers can think through what kind of extraterrestrial resp. cislunar societies we might become. Combining Science and Technology Studies with perspectives from Comparative Literary Studies, this talk explores analogue and literary simulations through the conceptual triad of materialities—infrastructure—imaginaries and reflects on their potential and limitations in ‘imagining space otherwise’.

key words: simulation, materialities, science fiction, imaginaries, knowledge production