The big stage for star chasers and star makers
It was a four-day science, art and music bonanza in La Palma, Spain at the STARMUS festival, whose overall aim is to “engage humanity in the biggest questions of our time.” ITER was represented.
For its second participation at STARMUS, ITER was part of an impressive line-up of world-class organizations, scientists—many of them Nobel Prize laureates—astronauts and leading experts. Speakers addressed many of the world's major challenges, ranging from pollution, threatened biodiversity, space exploration and climate change to the potential, and risks, of artificial intelligence. Across a hugely diverse range of issues, there was a shared sense of hope and optimism, and a call to action, that humanity will rise to meet these challenges.
ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi joined this hopeful outlook with an update on the ITER project. After some challenging years, ITER is now making important strides forward in completing the assembly of the largest tokamak in the world, opening the way to groundbreaking science.
The most northwesterly Canary Island was chosen to stage the festival in order to contribute to recovery efforts following the volcanic eruption of 2021, whose effects are still very visible around the island.
For the first time, STARMUS opened two town camps to take science to the streets. In Los Llanos, the economic hub of La Palma, ITER introduced the prospect of fusion energy to the public, captivating hundreds of primary and high-school students as well as local inhabitants and tourists.
One of the highlights of every STARMUS festival is the music, with concerts that bring together megastars of the music scene. While last year it was The Offspring performing in the hockey stadium in Bratislava, this year Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Derek Sherinian, Ash Sheehan, Tony Franklin, and Dino Jelusick, joined by the “voice” of Deep Purple Glenn Hughes, electrified the port of Tazacorte.
For more information on STARMUS see this website.