UniBas Plans For Mars Mission; Wooden Terraced Seating Planned For Kleinbasel; Wettstein Park Hosts Donation Fence

News For 31 March 2020

You may be strapped into your home to avoid corona-contagion, but scientists and researchers at the University of Basel are doing a different kind of "strapping in". The research team has been in the laboratory working on a camera system which will be attached to a space probe destined for the planet Mars.  Scheduled to land on the red planet in 2023, the Clupi camera is designed to identify promising samples of Martian soil for further scientific analysis.

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As we dream of once again gathering in the company of our friends and neighbors outside, Basel is planning for construction of outdoor wooden terraced seating on the banks of the Rhein in Kleinbasel.  The project calls for seating to be built that would accommodate 150 people and to be dismantled after three years for a more comprehensive rehabilitation project on the river banks.  Until recently, the project was halted by environmental groups that objected to the original scope which called for a 43 meter long pier attached to the terraces and jutting into the river.  By agreeing to the removal of the pier from the plans, objections were withdrawn and the project will now move ahead at a cost of 387,000 CHF and should be completed by June.

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A spontaneous group of organizers have created a Facebook Page "Basler Gabenzaun" which organizes donations for those in need during the quarantine.  Translated as Basel Fence, participants are directed to place needed items in a bag, and hang them on a fence at a designated location - earlier this week at Wettstein Park.  Those in need can go to the location and collect whatever they need and the bags are organized by contents.