From June 2026 visitors to Royal Observatory Greenwich will be able to experience something completely new, and reflective!. A new installation, called Mirror Moon, by British artist Luke Jerram, is going on display beside the famous Prime Meridian in Greenwich. The sculpture is a two metre wide replica of the lunar surface, produced using mirrored stainless steel and detailed NASA topographical data to reproduce the Moon’s craters.
What makes Mirror Moon particularly interesting is not just its scale or accuracy, but the material chosen to create it. Stainless steel may seem like an unusual choice for an artwork inspired by the Moon, but in many ways it’s the perfect. The mirrored surface reflects the light and surrounding environment, in the same was as the real Moon reflects sunlight back towards Earth. The result is a sculpture that changes with the weather, the sky and the people standing next to it.
The installation continues Luke Jerram’s long fascination with large-scale celestial artworks. His earlier creations, including Museum of the Moon and Gaia, toured internationally and became famous for blending science, engineering and public art. Mirror Moon takes the concept a step further by making the surface tactile as well as visual, allowing visitors to physically explore lunar craters and valleys with their hands.
Producing a mirrored sculpture of this scale is also no small engineering challenge. Stainless steel offers an ideal combination of structural rigidity and workable surface finish, allowing the Moon’s intricate textures to be formed while still maintaining the highly reflective appearance. Unlike painted or coated materials, polished stainless steel retains its appearance for decades with relatively little maintenance, making it a natural fit.
For 350 years the Royal Observatory Greenwich has been associated with navigation and astronomy, making the new sculpture a perfect fit. Mirror Moon brings together modern manufacturing, contemporary art and centuries of astronomical history in a way that feels both futuristic and timeless.
And if you’re feeling inspired by this lunar landmark, DSM’s bespoke stainless steel products offer a down-to-earth way of bringing a little reflective brilliance to your own projects, proof that sometimes stainless steel really is over the moon.
For more stainless steel space stories on our website have a look at these past articles:
Project Hail Mary: How Much Stainless Steel Would It Take to Build the Ship?