From the author: September 2013, “Deep Space Sculpture DESPATCH(*)” was selected as a secondary payload to ride along with the main payload, Hayabusa II, on a JAXA H-IIA launcher planned for launch in the fall of 2013.This probe, the second development in the “ARTSAT: satellite art project”, is a collaborative initiative of Tama Art University and Tokyo University. It’s a small payload – about 50 cm wide and 30 kg — that will be sent into deep space on an Earth-escape trajectory.

DESPATCH was successfully launched as a piggy-back payload of the H-IIA launch vehicle (main satellite: “Hayabusa II”) on December 3, 2014. DESPATCH is the world’s first artwork to be inserted into deep space orbit and marks the farthest distance from the Earth as an artwork. DESPATCH’s signal was successfully received from a distance of 4.7 million km (12 times the distance from the Moon), setting the new world distance record for a signal received by an amateur radio station. DESPATCH ended its operation on January 3, 2015, however it will continue to semi-permanently orbit the sun as a gift to the future of mankind.