OPERATION CNTRCPY^™ is a virtual manned space flight to Mars, accessible to everybody who has a mobile phone, access to the Internet, and is willing to turn everyday life inside out for a few weeks.

The target of the project is to navigate a space ship to Mars as fast as possible and to land it there safely. Throughout the whole mission the pilot is responsible for the conditions of the space ship and the crew. The journey to Mars is impeded by different obstacles such as aliens, black holes and fields of asteroids. When the spaceship heads towards one of these obstacles or when it is otherwise in danger, the cosmonaut is immediately informed by SMS—at any time of day or night.

Then action is called for. The pilot has to log into the “virtual mission control center” via the Internet as fast as he can, and avert these dangerous situations by successfully completing some tasks which are reminiscent of the formerly popular arcade games such as Space Invaders and Asteroids. The speed of reacting to an SMS and the quality of solving a problem decide the course of the journey.

The project of the group CNTRCPY^™ is an ironic comment on the current efforts for manned space flights to Mars and on our yearning for virtual worlds. Each player moves in two worlds during “his” spaceflight: in the real world, which is determined by everyday activities, and in the world of the game into which he is catapulted at unpredictable times per SMS.

OPERATION CNTRCPY^™ also tries to transfer the project into real space. In the past a propaganda video and cosmonaut food were produced, and cosmonaut training sessions were carried out. For this mission the counterpart to the “virtual mission control center” in real space will be installed. It is the center of the OPERATION CNTRCPY^™ activities. These include actions, strategic decisions and lectures about the insanity of manned space flight projects and Mars expeditions.

Furthermore, the artists’ group wants to criticize efforts pursued by states for spaceflight activities that have no real social benefit. For CNTRCPY^™, the conquest of space is only part of the game of power between states. This is also stressed in an ironic form by the fact that the player enters the cosmos and represents a country which no longer exists in reality, the former Soviet Union. Design, musical interludes and the fonts all hint at this.