TY - JOUR TI - The BepiColombo ‘model’: looking beyond the ‘original’ AU -Abigail MacKinnon PY - 2022 VL - IS - Spring 2022 KW - aerospace museums KW - BepiColombo KW - Models KW - museum display KW - museum interpretation KW - object biography KW - replicas KW - Science Museum KW - Soyuz AB - This paper examines the role that models and replicas typically play in aerospace museums, which is to use them as references for the original or final product. Using the BepiColombo Structural Thermal Model currently on display at the Science Museum as well as other models in the Exploring Space gallery as examples, this paper argues that looking at models as objects in their own right offers more diverse and inspiring narratives for visitors. It presents opportunities to showcase the complex development process for space technology, uncovers surprising stories, and helps to debunk the traditional narrative of progress and advancement that science and technology museums often adopt. BepiColombo is a joint mission to Mercury developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA). N1 - ‘Replicas’ and ‘models’ have different definitions for different academic disciplines. This paper concentrates primarily on the meanings of models and replicas in the context of space technology. N1 - The BepiColombo STM and Flight Model were built and tested by Airbus; the company was also integral to the installation of the STM at the Science Museum in 2018. N1 - The BepiColombo STM on display is missing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) STM developed by JAXA as they wished for it to be returned to Japan when testing was completed. It would have sat inside the sun shield, hidden from view from visitors so its removal does not compromise the display. N1 - For further reading on models in other disciplines, see Hopwood, N and de Chadarevian, S (eds), Models: The Third Dimension of Science. For archaeology see Foster, S M and Curtis, N G W, 2016, ‘The Thing about Replicas—Why Historic Replicas Matter,’ in the European Journal of Archaeology; for art see Munro, J, 2014, Silent Partners: Artist and Mannequin from Function to Fetish; for medicine see Bailey, M, 2019, ‘Modelling life’, McEnroe, N (ed), Medicine: An Imperfect Science. N1 - To read more about the significance of object biographies and how object meanings change over time, see Alberti, S, 2005, ‘Objects and the Museum’, Isis. N1 - While this paper touches on how the interpretation of objects impacts on their perceived authenticity to the visitor, there have been other studies looking at the impact on visitors of original and authentic objects vs replicas. This is a large area of study which is beyond the scope of this paper but as an example see an evaluation of visitor perceptions relating to authentic vs replica objects at the Deutsches Museum in Hampp, C and Schwan, S, 2014, ‘Perception and evaluation of authentic objects: findings from a visitor study’, in Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp 249–367. PB - The Science Museum Group SN - 2054-5770 LA - eng DO - 10.15180/221705 UR - https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/bepicolombo/ T2 - Science Museum Group Journal