Artsnova Digital Art and Space

NASA Lunar Base

A 1949 Gallup poll of Americans found that only 15% of the public believed that man would walk on the Moon by 2000. How is it that we accomplished this by 1969? Of course the Cold War and a series of Soviet space firsts played the lead role. But space art also played a role in providing for the population a visualization of what space exploration could be like.

Space art still has a role to play in exposing the public to the vision of what it would mean to truly become a spacefaring civilization. There is a precedent for art’s ability to shape public policy. One of my favorite artists is Thomas Moran, an outstanding painter of the Hudson River School. One of Moran’s landscape subjects was Yellowstone, which he visited as part of an expedition in 1871. His paintings of the landscape had such an impact on the public that in 1872 Yellowstone was made our nation’s first national park. If you would like to know more about Thomas Moran and his art, I recommend the book Thomas Moran.

Peter A. Nisbet, a well known landscape artist who was part of the NASA Art Program, said that “Art is about what words cannot express. Many things have happened in the exploration of space that people cannot know through photographs or newspapers/television reporting. It is the artist’s task to bring forth the mysterious, the exalted, the great beauty and power surrounding these events.”

Later this month I will be attending the International Space Development Conference in Washington D.C. While it has not yet been confirmed, I expect to be giving a presentation on space art and its power to promote space exploration. Titled Using Art to Promote Space Exploration, the presentation is part history, part call to action. To be considered for a programming slot, I had to submit a 500 word abstract. Imagine my surprise when upon finishing the abstract I discovered that I was over 1,000 words. Heavy handed editing got me down to the 500 world limit. Following is the abstract that I submitted.

Title: Using Art to Promote Space Exploration
Author: Jim Plaxco
Abstract:

In the beginning there was astronomical art whose purpose was to illustrate planetary bodies and astronomical concepts. With the advent of science fiction space art came into being as a means of illustrating fictional space ships and off-Earth habitations.

In the 1950’s space art migrated from the realm of science fiction to science when artists were commissioned to create illustrations for non-fiction books describing space exploration. A peak of public relations was reached during this period with a series of articles in Collier’s Magazine which became the basis for a subsequent series of programs created by Disney for television.

In 1962 NASA created the NASA Art Program to document and celebrate the events and activities of the space program. This and other art commissioned by NASA has been used for multiple purposes including: technical illustration of hardware; public affairs imagery promoting particular programs; capturing the emotional impact of space exploration; illustrating scientific discoveries.

Throughout the space age art has been used as a means of visualizing and promoting space exploration. The target of this art has been both the public and public policy decision makers. This art focused on the Apollo program during the 1960’s; the Shuttle program during the 1970’s; the International Space Station during the 1980’s and 1990’s; and the Vision for Space Exploration during the 2000’s. Today the main customers for professional non-fictional space art are space agencies, aerospace companies, and those publications that cover the field.

Recent years has seen the addition of marketing the images returned by various robotic missions as art. The initial such project was “Mars As Art” which used Mars Odyssey THEMIS data. Subsequently “The Sun As Art“, “Landsat: Earth As Art” and “Our Earth As Art” programs were launched. These programs raise public interest in space exploration. This is best exhibited by the extensive media and public attention that images from the Hubble Space Telescope have garnered.

In addition to commissioning art to illustrate its programs, NASA has also sponsored art contests targeting students. The positive relationship between space exploration and student interest in science is a long accepted one. By sponsoring these contests, NASA is spurring student interest in science, art, and space exploration, as well as heightening awareness of their own programs.

NASA has leveraged art to satisfy multiple objectives. The space activist community should take advantage of these lessons. NSS has embarked on a program of support for the space arts. In addition to the traditional venue of commissioning art for Ad Astra, recent years have seen space art programming and shows at the ISDCs. Additionally NSS has conducted two successful Space Settlement Art Contests. NSS leveraged the art submitted to these contests by building corresponding art galleries on the NSS web site and using the winning art to publish calendars promoting space settlement.

As chair of the NSS Web Oversight Committee, I plan to advocate for the creation of a Student Space Art Gallery to spur student interest in art and space exploration.

Moon Base Illustration

The art used to illustrate this post is of an advanced lunar base and was used as an illustration in the 1992 multivolume NASA publication Space Resources. The entire publication is available as a PDF download from the NSS Space Resources Library.

Ad Astra, Jim

Earthrise Over the Moon

Yesterday I finished up my part in the judging of entries in the NASA Life and Work on the Moon student art contest. The theme of the contest was portrayals of people living and working on the Moon. There were some interesting submissions to the contest. There were a few submissions that ignored the fact that this was an “art” contest and instead submitted presentations, pamphlets, etc. While these were outside the bounds of the contest, it was a pleasure to read through these and learn about what these persons considered to be the benefits of humans living on the Moon. For more contest details, visit the NASA art contest site The Moon: Back to the Future.

We judges were to grade the artist’s submissions based on four different criteria: artist statement; artistic elements; creativity; validity. Scoring was 20 points for the artist statement, 30 points for artistic elements, 30 points for creativity, and 20 points for validity.

Artist Statement

The artist statement was a written explanation of the submitteed art. Unfortunately some artists failed to provide a statement. I’m not sure why someone would spend a substantial amount of time creating an artwork to submit to the contest and then not take the comparatively small amount of time to explain the nature of their submission. The artist statements spanned a wide gamut from simple explanations of the image to complex explanations of the artist’s thinking and planning process.

Artistic Elements

Judging the artistic elements involved evaluating the artist’s use of line, shape, color, texture, etc. For me this represented the most difficult component to judge because such components are highly dependent on the observer’s values.

Creativity

Being creative while adhering to the contest’s rules for validity can be a challenge. One of the more creative submissions was an art deco style advertisement for tangtini - a drink composed of Tang and vodka. Unfortunately the connection between the piece and theme of living and working on the Moon was rather tenuous.

Validity

As the theme of the contest was living and working on the Moon, the submitted artwork was expected to be realistic in its depiction of the nature of the lunar environment and what living there would be like. Artists had to balance being creative while staying within the bounds of reality. Judging the validity of some submitted art was challenging in this category. For example, there was a very nicely done terraformed moon. But just how valid is that? Unfortunately that piece did not depict any human presence on the Moon.

I must say I enjoyed the experience of being a judge in the contest. The last contest I had an opportunity to judge was the NSS Space Settlement Art Contest which ended in January. Every artist should take a crack at being a judge in an art contest. It is one thing to look at a picture and say “Oh I like that” and quite another thing to analyze the picture’s composition and artistic elements with the goal of assigning a grade to the picture. The process can be very instructive.

About Earthrise Over the Moon

I created Earthrise Over Moon to illustrate this blog entry. As a source I used one of the HDTV images from the JAXA Selene (aka Kaguya) mission to the Moon. I then brought the picture into Adobe Photoshop and used the “Find Edges” filter to create an outline map of the areas of contrast change in the source image. I then used several custom brushes of my own creation to digitally paint the picture. For my Photoshop brushes, I used custom brush tip shapes and activated the Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Texture, and Color Dynamics options. These brush controls were set to be sensitive to pen pressure as I was using a Wacom stylus to paint the picture.

Ad Astra, Jim

A person who shall remain nameless talking to noted science fiction author Ben Bova about global warming on Mars.

I recently completed the construction of a photo gallery for the National Space Society. The 2007 International Space Development Conference Photo Gallery gallery features 148 photographs of the people and events of the 2007 ISDC which took place May 25-28 in Dallas TX.

This gallery came into being as a consequence of a suggestion that I made: that having a gallery of photographs of the 2007 ISDC would be a good way of promoting the 2008 ISDC. I was subsequentially given a DVD of photographs taken at the conference by Nancy Ostertag - the photographer contracted for the job. Sifting through these photographs I came up with 148 to use in creating the gallery.

Looking back over the gallery I find that there are a few especially noteworthy photographs. In particular:

• Best Smile Award goes to Cassie Kloberdanz.
• Best Award Presentation Style goes to NSS Senior Vice President Mark Hopkins who gets down on his knees to present former Apollo Astronaut and U.S. Senator Jack Schmitt with the Gerard K. O’Neil Memorial Award.
• Best Speaker Photograph Award goes to the photograph of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin because of its excellent lighting.

While the gallery has been up since last week, it has not yet been publicly announced so for you Artsnova readers, you’ve got a scoop. And if you want to find out who that nameless person in the above photograph is, you’ll just have to search through the 2007 International Space Development Conference Photo Gallery.

By way of full disclosure, I currently serve as the Chair of the NSS Web Oversight Committee and am also a candidate in the upcoming NSS Board of Directors election - having been nominated both by the Nominations Committee and by petition.

Ad Astra, Jim

The Apollo 11 mission patch

The Challenger Center is hosting a Student Art Contest in support of space tourist Richard Garriott’s upcoming space flight. Richard is best known as the creator of the massive multi-player online game Ultima. I’ve never met Richard but I have met his father Owen Garriott who first flew in space on a Skylab mission. Owen’s second and last trip into space was in 1983 on the Spacelab-1 mission.

We’ve come a long way since then because Richard Garriott will be going into space as a tourist. While Richard is not the first space tourist, he will be the first person to travel to space whose father also traveled to space. Set to depart October 12, 2008, Richard will have tourist class accommodations on the less than roomy Russian Soyuz. His final destination is the uxorious International Space Station Resort located in low Earth orbit. His one week vacation is said to cost around $30 million. It’s grand to be witness to the birth of a new industry - space tourism. I only wish that it had happened sooner. For a lower cost alternative trip to space, I recommend one of the suborbital flights to be offered by Virgin Galactic. For more information about the space flight of Richard Garriott, check out Richard Garriott’s Space Mission web site.

The Challenger Center’s involvement is that Garriott will be working with classes at the fifty Challenger Learning Centers around the world as a part of a “Garriott Science Challenge” program. Science related classes will be conducted as a part of the program before, during, and after Richard’s trip to ISS.

In conjunction with the “Garriott Science Challenge”, the Challenger Center is conducting a Student Art Contest. The objective of the contest is for students to submit designs for a space patch. The contest, which was announced March 8, has a deadline of April 18. For contest rules and to enter the contest, see Challenger Center Student Art Contest Rules and Submission Form. Designs already submitted can be viewed at Garriott Challenge Student Design Gallery. Note that at the time of this post, no entries have been submitted.

Ad Astra, Jim

Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell, Jim Plaxco, and NSS Executive Director George Whitesides and the Heinlein Award

I recently took the time to cast my ballot for whom I considered deserving of the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award. This award is sponsored by the National Space Society and serves to honor those individuals who have made significant lifetime contributions to the creation of a free spacefaring civilization. The Award is in memory of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. In addition to his hard SF novels, Heinlein served as a Director of the L5 Society - which later merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. The 12th Heinlein Award will be presented at the National Space Society’s 27th International Space Development Conference to be held in Washington, DC in May 2008.

If you take a look at the above picture, you will see me holding the Heinlein Award that was presented to Captain James Lovell of Apollo 13 fame in 2004 at a ceremony at the Illinois Institute of Technology. And yes, the award is in the form of a brass cannon. Why a cannon? In what I consider Heinlein’s best novel - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - the brass cannon was the symbol of the lunar revolution. In fact The Brass Cannon was the working title of the book until it was renamed The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Quoting from the book: “When Luna adopts a flag, I would like it to be a cannon… It can fly in our hearts… a symbol for all fools so ridiculously impractical as to think they can fight city hall.”

In order to be eligible to receive the Heinlein Award, the person must either still be living or have passed away less than three years prior to the starting date of the ISDC at which the award is presented. Additionally, a person can receive the Heinlein Award only once. Previous Heinlein Award winners are Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Gene Roddenberry, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Dr. Carl Sagan, Neil Armstrong, Robert Zubrin, Capt. James Lovell, and Gen. Chuck Yeager.

In voting for the recipient, you get to vote for three candidates - first, second, and third choices. A list of the top vote getters from prior years is provided as an aid but space is provided for write-ins of your own. The list of previous non-winning top vote getters is:

Online voting for the Heinlein Award ends January 15, 2008. Voting is restricted to current members of the National Space Society so if you’re not a member and want to be able to vote, you had better join.

NASA Christmas Cards

Right now, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the first woman to command the International Space Station, Russian cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Dan Tani are circling the Earth aboard the International Space Station. In fact they will be spending their Christmas holiday in space.

In light of this, NASA has created an online tool that will allow you to send a personalized greeting to the crew of the ISS. You can choose from one of four card types, shown above, and type your message to the crew on the reverse side.

To send your own message to the ISS crew, go to http://www.nasa.gov/ and look for the link titled “Send Holiday Greetings to the Station Crew.” Mouse over the link to open the window and then click on the “Send Your Greetings” Now link.

It’s really simple and you’ll feel good letting the astronauts and cosmonaut know that they are in our thoughts.

Merry Christmas, Jim

Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt (right) and Jim Plaxco at the 2007 International Space Development Conference

The Winter 2007 issue of Ad Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society, features an article on the Top 20 Space Visionaries. The goal: to identify those 20 individuals alive today who are having the greatest impact on humanity’s future in space.

The twenty people listed are:

1. Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne fame.
2. Peter Diamandis - founder of SEDS, cofounder of International Space University and XPRIZE founder.
3. Eric Anderson - cofounder of Space Adventures.
4. Robert Bigelow - founder of Bigelow Aerospace which aims to provide inflatable habitats to low earth orbit.
5. Dr. Stephen Hawking - noted physicist and supporter of human space exploration.
6. Elon Musk - founder of SpaceX, which is working to create a family of low cost ELVs.
7. Mike Griffin - the current NASA Administrator.
8. Dr. Sally Ride - the first U.S. female astronaut to go into space.
9. Dr. Martin Sweeting - designer and promoter of small satellites and CEO of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited.
10. Buzz Aldrin - most noted for the Apollo 11 mission but also an active advocate of human space exploration.
11. Harrison “Jack” Schmitt - Apollo 17 astronaut, geologist, and champion of mining the Moon for Helium-3 as a fuel for fusion reactors.
12. Franklin Chang-Diaz - former director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at Johnson Space Center and creator of VASIMIR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket). He created Ad Astra Rocket in 2005 to pursue VASIMIR development.
13. Russell “Rusty” Schweickart - Apollo 9 , cofounder of the Association of Space Explorers and chairman of the Board of Directors for the B612 Foundation, an organization whose goal is to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015.
14. Dr. Laurie Leshin - Director of Science and Exploration at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
15. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - former President of India and aeronautical engineer. Worked on development of India’s first launch vehicle: SLV-III.
16. Anoushen Ansari - of Ansari XPRIZE fame and first female space tourist via a 2004 Soyuz trip to ISS.
17. Simon “Pete” Worden - doctorate in astronomy, brigadier general in the USAF who was involved in the DC-X and Clementine programs. Currently director of NASA Ames Research Center.
18. Neil Degrasse Tyson - Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
19. Bradley Edwards - a leader in the field of space elevators.
20. Robert Zubrin - author, co-developer of the Mars Direct concept, founder of the Mars Society.

You can post your comments about this list to the NSS Members Write blog. My comment on the list of visionaries was to wonder why Dr. Stephen Hawking was on the list but Sir Richard Branson was not. After all, it is Richard Branson who founded Virgin Galactic to take Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne to the next level and to actually open the door to real private enterprise based space tourism - as opposed to tourism sponsored by the Russian government. I would drop Hawking and substitute Branson.

And what about Dr. Peter Glaser, the father of the Solar Power Satellite concept and member of the Space Technology Hall of Fame? His idea of creating a system of Earth orbiting solar power satellites to supply electric power to Earth could have a profound positive impact on our future. Also there is Dr. David Criswell, creator of the Lunar Solar Power concept and Director of the Institute of Space Systems Operations at the University of Houston. The Lunar Solar Power concept relocates those Earth orbiting solar power satellites to the surface of the Moon.

As to who to drop from the list to make room for these two additions: I would remove two of the following - take your pick: Dr. Laurie Leshin or Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or Dr. Martin Sweeting or Neil Degrasse Tyson.

What do you think? You can comment here or at the NSS Members Write blog.

Ad Astra, Jim

It’s time for Windycon

How quickly a year can pass. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was posting my schedule for the 2006 Windycon Science Fiction convention. Once again I’ll be a participant in Windycon which opens Friday Nov 9 and continues through Sunday Nov 11. Following is what’s in store for me this year.

The Lunar Barrier Grand Ballroom North, Saturday 11:00:

From 1968 to 1972, eight manned missions reached the Moon. In the past 35 years, man has never risen above low Earth orbit. Will this be the state of manned space exploration for the rest of our lifetimes or will we actually once again rise above Earth’s gravity well? Will we be able to say “To Lunar orbit and beyond!” Panelists: T. Buckell, B. Higgins, J. Plaxco, F. Ruiz, H. Spencer

This should be an interesting panel especially since we have an election coming up in a year. Given that the return to the Moon program is a product of the Bush administration and widely derided by Democrats, I fear that plans for a return to the Moon may be short lived. I find it strange and disappointing that the party that gave us the Apollo missions to the Moon should be so non-supportive of a return visit.

The Vision for Space Exploration Grand Ballroom North, Saturday Noon:

Is NASA’s new preoccupation with a return to the Moon a massive mistake, a wonderful idea, or of no real importance? Where should we be going in space, and how? Panelists: B. Higgins, J. Liss, J. Plaxco, H. Spencer

Another excellent topic of discussion. The Vision for Space Exploration is the most strategic mission that NASA has been given since Apollo. What’s even more amazing is that this program has survived for three years in the current political environment. If the American voters want to see this project last beyond the end of George Bush’s term as President, then we had better do everything humanly possible to make sure that the next president continues to support this vision. One thing you can do to help is to join the National Space Society.

Prints and Originals Orly, Sunday Noon:

You look at the originals and crave them, but the prices seem so high. When should you consider buying a print rather than an original? What exactly does it mean to be a print (and how are they created)? Panelists: P. Charlifu, S.V. Johnson, J. Lee, J. Plaxco, D. Waltz

Looking around my office, I count 8 prints and 4 originals hanging on my walls. Interestingly, I bought three of the originals at a couple of different Windycon art auctions many years ago and they actually cost less than most of the prints I have.

The whole issue of originals vs prints has been further complicated by the advent of digital art and the giclee or giclée. Digital prints represent an entirely new arena. But there is precedent provided by the world of photography. For example, the film negative is analogous to the digital file in that both are the source of the final printed image.

The Windycon art show can be a great place to acquire art at a bargain price. I’ll have several of my own pieces in the show (haven’t decided which yet) so if you’re at the convention, take the time to look for my art in the show.

Politics in the Future Orly, Sunday 2:00:

No, we aren’t interested if you think Dennis Kucinich should run against John Cox in the general election (well, we might be interested, but not for the purposes of this panel). We’re more interested in thoughts of politics in the long term. Will democracy survive? What sort of political systems will exist after mankind colonizes the planets? D. Bingle, J. Lilly, J. Plaxco, W. Thomasson, L. Zeldes

Definitely the most open ended panel I’ll be on. Who knows where this one will go. Interplanetary Fascism in the 23rd century? Technological advances, smallish physically isolated communities, the nature of trade between different settlements, the legal regime of ownership - these will all be ingredients thrown into the mix. And of course the plight of the individual will be a factor as well. To quote Robert LeFevre: “To live is good. To live well is better. To live in abundance, security, and joy is the acme of living.”

See you at Windycon. Jim