Orbital Temple is an artwork and a functional satellite created by Edson Pavoni. Launching into space in January 2026, its memory holds billions of names, and anyone on Earth can send one.
It’s mission is to question the symbolic colonization of heaven as paradise; the origin of the rules that open or close its gateways; and the influence those beliefs have on the decisions we make every day.
How does the idea of heaven interfere with our perceptions about sex, abortion, euthanasia, State, family, mental health, and human rights? What if technology made it possible for us to experiment with an inclusive imaginary of heaven?
Edson Pavoni
Temples are clues to our spiritual nature, guides toward a sacred place within, where we might unlock the creative power of our deeper unconscious selves. The artist, like the priest, the sage, or the shaman, takes part in this collective building. Like they once did in the cave, their work is to give body to values, to lend their hands to what wants to be born, to serve what must exist. They are servants, building, part by part, what humanity must physically manifest.
No temple can be radically inclusive. There is no place on Earth that can hold the universal sacred. Yet all peoples who ever lived built temples, proof that something sacred unites us. Something that sees no borders. Something that deserves a place of its own. Where could we build such a temple? Where no walls can reach, no nation can claim, no religion can rule. Space.
Yet, another temple? Yes, and this time it’s in space.
Edson Pavoni
Even if a few privileged now try to claim it, and even as space endures its cultural crisis, its power in our imagination is ancient. It is the infinite above, the firmament, the celestial vault, the heavens, the oldest commons we share. Space carries an ancestral mandate to unite us.
Orbital Temple is the first participatory art satellite from the Global South. Through a website available in 136 languages, anyone can send a name to be held in orbit. The satellite stores it and transmits back: Today, at this hour, the name you sent ascended, and there it remains. This is an invitation to a new kind of ritual.
The satellite launches from India in January 2026 aboard ISRO’s PSLV-C60. It will orbit Earth for ten years at 525km altitude, carrying names from participants worldwide.
Project Page | Send a Name | Edson Pavoni | Instagram
| Satellite (1P PocketQube) | Web Platform | Participation |
| Dimensions: 50 × 50 × 50 mm Weight: 245 grams Materials: Aluminum frame, gold dome, fiberglass, electronic components Downlink frequency: 437 MHz Orbit: 525 ± 25 km altitude, Sun-synchronous (97.6° inclination) Mission duration: ~10 years with debris mitigation plan Launch vehicle: ISRO PSLV-C60 Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India | Next.js frontend Firebase Firestore real-time database i18n localization: 136 languages Custom satellite-ground transmission protocol | Free, no registration required Names stored in satellite onboard memory Confirmation transmitted upon orbital alignment with ground antenna |
| How It Works |
| The Orbital Temple project consists of three interconnected elements that work together to send names to the temple in space. The satellite orbits Earth at an altitude of approximately 525 km, storing the names in its memory. Ground stations communicate with the satellite during its passes, transmitting the names that people have submitted through the website. When you submit a name, it joins a queue and will be transmitted to the satellite during the next available pass. You’ll receive an email confirmation when your name has been successfully uploaded to the Orbital Temple. |
| Credits |
| Orbital Temple is an artwork by Edson Pavoni, created in collaboration with Pedro Kaled, João Pedro Polito, Victor Baptista & João Victor Alves, André Biagioni, VK, Jonathan Querubina, Guilherme Bullejos, Eduardo Dias, Roberta Savian Rosa, Clara Marques, and all those who continue to send names to this temple. |
