Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT FEATURING ‘RED PLANET’ OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, 7 JUNE

An exhibition entitled “A New Perspective on Mars” will open with a formal ceremony in the Main Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, 7 June 2007.  Statements will be made by Kiyo Akasaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; Thomas Matussek, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations; and Ludwig Baumgarten, Member of the Board of the German Aerospace Centre.

The year 2007 marks the anniversaries of three groundbreaking events in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space:  50 years ago, Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite, was launched; shortly afterwards, the United Nations established the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which held its fiftieth session this year; and, 40 years ago, the Outer Space Treaty entered into force.  Germany celebrates these occasions with this exhibition, prepared by the German Aerospace Centre.

Featuring fascinating large-scale three-dimensional photos of the “Red Planet” of unprecedented definition, the exhibition will present findings of the European Space Agency mission Mars Express, Europe’s first independent mission to another planet.  Since December 2003, the probe has been circling the “Red Planet” in search of water traces and to enhance the scientific standard of knowledge concerning the planet’s geology, mineralogy and atmosphere.  The probe carries onboard the German High-Resolution Stereo Camera, the first ever system capable of taking photographs of planetary surfaces that combine high definition, colour and a 3-D effect.

This exhibition, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna, Austria, will be open to the public today, 1 June.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel: 212 963 8531 or Liza Wichmann at tel: 212 9630089.

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For information media • not an official record