Lovely Weather is an artist in residency program in
County Donegal, supported and organized by the
Letterkenny Regional Cultural Center and
Leonardo/Olats.

The Irish Rover: Looking for Mars Off the Northern Coast of Ireland

a Lovely Weather project

the story | underwater expedition | water tests | rock samples

The League of Imaginary Scientists explored the depths of Mulroy Bay, in search of Mars - or Martians of any kind. They were the closest to space creatures around.

A scuba dive instructor as well as all-around pirate, Captain Jesper led the crew in an underwater expedition. The formal expedition to Mars on Ireland, in Mulroy Bay, began in early May.  With trips lengthened by volcanic ash clouds, the Danish sea captain Jesper took the longest to arrive – a full forty-eight hours from his boat, the Solitude, on the Caribbean to Mulroy Bay in the North Atlantic.

Their underwater escapades were lengthy, cold, and remarkably like floating in space.

We logged several days of underwater exploration, searching for Mars in Mulroy Bay.  Walking in water mimics the foreign atmosphere of space travel, and sea species resemble conjectures of space creatures.  The climate of Mars, dominated by carbon dioxide, is one possible outcome for Earth.  We examined the underwater world through observation, sampling and tests, and analyzed the geological area of the new namesake of Mars in Ireland.