Martian Windmills at Weltraum Festival

Last week I participated in the Weltraum fest at Raumschiff, the Makerspace for Astronomy in the Dubendorf neighborhood of Zurich and shared a remixed project out of my book, “The Tinkering Workshop” with a space themed twist. A few hundred participants attended the event and enjoyed a wide variety of activities, demonstrations, talks and hands-on projects. 

For the tinkering project, the connection to the space theme was the framing of exploring wind-power on a the surface of Mars by building inventive windmills using everyday materials. I’m not sure about the accuracy of these models but it’s fun to think of how the process of experimenting and tinkering can lead to new designs and solutions to undefined problems.

The workshop also gave me a chance to experiment with another portable cardboard bases for the windmills. I packed 20 strips and 20 flat sheets of cardboard and quickly assembled them (with a straw on top) before the workshop. This method allowed me to be able to travel with parts that would otherwise have been too bulky to bring by train.

As soon as the doors opened to the workshop, it was completely full around the table with kids and families starting to put together designs. When people started I showed a quick example of the windmill shaft with a turbine and plastic spacer but left it open for them to construct their own designs.

I was amazed by the variety of different examples that emerged over the five hour workshop. Ideas bounced around the table and by the end of the session there were many new ideas that I wouldn’t have been able to predict before the start of the workshop. It was really cool to see the connections between the elements added for functionality or beauty that all affected the spinning movement of the windmills.

Unfortunately (also for potential eclipse viewing) it was a rainy day in Zurich, but that didn’t stop a few participants from bringing their designs out in the drizzle to test. I would love to do this workshop one day outside to really experiment with harnessing wind power.

In the afternoon, I did a quick presentation from my book while participants kept their hands busy at the table. For me it was the really perfect moment to be sharing about tinkering in the midst of explorations and experimentation.

This festival gave me the chance to test out just one possible way to connect the projects in “The Tinkering Workshop” with other themes and topics. I would love to continue to think about the ways that the marble runs, automata, mobiles and more can relate to tinkerers’ interests and passions.