President Macky Sall at the movie premiere

President Macky Sall will be on March 21 at 10 am at the Grand Théâtre for the premiere of Marami Kerr’s “Star Hunters” which tells of the flight of a NASA spacecraft named Lucy that takes off from Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) for a mission to a group of asteroids They are located in the orbit of Jupiter, more than 400 million kilometers from Earth and are believed to hold important clues to the origins of our solar system. Hours earlier, in Senegal, West Africa, a team of scientists had begun capturing very precise observations, crucial to the success of the Lucy mission—critical data, essential to helping NASA guide Lucy to its goals. Asteroids across millions of miles in space. Team leader, Senegalese astronomer Maram Kere, takes viewers on a journey to explore his country’s rich and deep history in astronomy, dating back thousands of years – and the promising future that access to space offers.

This unprecedented 56-minute documentary was produced by the world-famous TERRA MATER studios (Vienna, Austria) and the world’s largest science television channel, NOVA-PBS (USA). It tells the story of African astronomy through a visionary Senegalese astronomer who, in pursuit of his dream of building a space agency for his country, attempts to conduct high-stakes observations of a distant asteroid, vital to NASA’s LUCY space mission. This film explores the legacy and future of astronomy in Senegal and Africa, from megalithic sites in Sin-Salum to skywatchers in Toba and Istanbul.

Taking into account the exceptional nature of this film, the first of its kind in Africa, the President of the Republic, Macky Sall, has proposed to the producers to organize a premiere in Senegal.

Mr. Mark Bowie, American astronomer, head of NASA’s Unseen Missions and co-investigator of the Lucy space mission, director Ruth Perry (Cinema Award) and the production and film teams have been specially invited to Dakar by the sponsor on the occasion.

A guide to reconnaissance at the same opportunity by the chef of the Etat in the realization of this film, the producers of TERRA MATER ont décidé d’offrir aux sénégalais his droits de retransmission to travers the national television RTS afin d’en faire bénéficier à toute the people.

This film is the culmination of three stellar cloaking missions carried out in Senegal between 2018 and 2021 for NASA as part of the exploration of the solar system. In this sense, it illustrates the coordinated efforts to promote astronomical and space sciences and to spread scientific culture.

The film was praised by critics, including the respected Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Black History Month, which ranked it among their 30 inspirations.

Writer: Seneweb – Seneweb.com