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International Space Development Conference Day Two

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

Bolden, Garver, Mankins
Pictured left to right: NASA Administrator General Charles Bolden, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Bob McDonald from SPACE Canada, SPACE Canada Executive Director Margaret McLaughlin, John Mankins, SPS researcher from Japan whose name I can’t recall.

Far too much happened today on day two of the International Space Development Conference to go into any sort of detail and having only now gotten home it would take some time to type up my notes and make them comprehensible. However I will say that the two presentations by Jeff Greason were most enlightening.

Unfortunately, the biggest event of the day took placed during the dinner which featured NASA Administrator General Charles Bolden. It was after dinner and after the presentation of the NASA Ames Space Settlement Design Award to the Durango High School Aerospace Design Team. General Bolden had just started to speak when some young well dressed lady strode up to the podium, took the microphone from Bolden, and proceeded to attack NASA and Bolden for their animal experiments. NSS Executive Director Gary Barnhard, who was sitting several feet away, got up and promptly escorted the lady out of the room.

I will say that the net effect of this woman on the audience was to portray animal rights activists in a poor light. My big question: did this woman buy a ticket for this event or did she crash the gates?

Following is the relevant audio clip featuring the unwelcome interruption. Press the play button to begin the audio playback.

Tags: animal, bolden, ISDC, protester
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International Space Development Conference - Day 1

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Buzz Aldrin at the Boeing Coffee

Eric Anderson, Space Adventures

Gordon Woodcock, Boeing (retired)

John Carmack, Armadillo Aerospace

John Mankins, SPS guru

model Mars base

A model Mars base in the exhibit hall

typical slide at an ISDC presentation

A typical slide at an ISDC presentation

I arrived at 8:00am for the first day of the International Space Development Conference (ISDC). I took a walk around the hotel to get the lay of the land. Next stop was operations to see how things were going. The nice thing about being the web master for the conference is that once the conference is underway my job is pretty much done.

Heading over to the Artist’s Gallery (an open common area between meeting rooms) I saw my friend Veronica Zabala-Aliberto, Coordinator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera at Arizona State University, who greeted me with a warm hug. The last time I had seen Veronica was when she had given me a tour of the LRO offices at ASU a couple years ago.

Next it was off to the Space Solar Power Symposium. The SPS Symposium is chaired by John Mankins who opened the symposium with a summary of who is doing SPS research. The "who" consisted of both individuals and organizations. Following this was a presentation by Gordon Woodcock who provided an overview of past SPS research efforts. Much of this discussion focused on the Boeing study of the late ’70s in which he was personally involved.

At the break I headed over to registration but took a pass on standing in the long line. Registration was late in opening apparently due in large part to difficulties the hotel was having with their internet access.

On the way back to the SPS program I ran into Wayne White who is currently employed by the Constellation program - meaning his future is uncertain given Obama’s decision to kill the program. Once again I started for the SPS program but ran into Sherry Bell, the Dean of Psychology at Kepler Space University, from whom I received my second warm hug of the day.

Back in the SPS room, Susumu Sasaki was giving a presentation about the Japanese Space Agency JAXA’s work on SPS. He was followed by Paul Jaffe of the Naval Research Laboratory who spoke about a small (under $2 million) project at NRL working with technology that would be relevant to SPS.

Next a coffee break sponsored by Boeing (thanks Boeing for the refreshments and desserts) where I spent some time speaking with John Olson, a director of the Space Frontier Foundation and later fellow NSS director Mark Hopkins.

I next attended a joint presentation by Eric Anderson of Space Adventures and John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace on their joint space tourism project. Space Adventures has contracted with Armadillo to provide the reusable space vehicles for launching space tourists on suborbital flights. John stated that he expects that within a year they will be flying unmanned science payloads to 100,000 feet and that within another year they’ll be flying to 100km. He stated that they expect to operate at a loss for the next couple of years. The interesting thing about their model is that there will be no pilot for these flights. The only people aboard will be the tourists. Some people may find the idea of a ship with no onboard human pilot disconcerting In the q/a session that followed, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin quipped "Yuri Gagarin landed in a parachute." So concluded the first morning of programming at the ISDC.

For the afternoon I attended the AIAA Space Colonization program track. First up was a presentation that was not at all about space colonization but rather a presentation that linked the major space programs of the U.S to how other countries perceived the will power of the U.S. Delivered by John Brandenburg, The Geopolitics of Space presented an interesting line of reasoning: Perception creates reality and deterrence is based on perception. When the U.S. is perceived as being strong in space, the U.S. is perceived as being a strong country, and vice versa. This presentation was followed by Gordon Woodcock and Strategy for Space Development in which Gordon pointed out to the audience that destinations are not goals and that our two goals should be 1) the successful economic development of space and 2) the extension of human civilization to space. The next talk was by track chair Anita Gale of Boeing whose talk Triggers for Space Settlement explained the scenarios created for students to address in the annual International Space Settlement Design Competition.

Then it was back to the SPS Symposium for a presentation by John Mankins on the results of the International Academy of Astronautics SSP study

That ended the programming for me. My next stop was the NSS Fundraising Committee meeting - already under way. After that it was dinner with fellow NSS director Robbie Gaines. Then back to the hotel for more conversation with various folks and then the drive home.

Tags: conference, ISDC, space development
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Hubble 3D IMAX Movie

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Hubble 3D IMAX movie

What a great IMAX movie. Thursday I visited Chicago’s Navy Pier to take some photographs and attend a screening of the latest IMAX movie - Hubble 3D. I had a number of free passes so I and several friends from the National Space Society met up to see the movie.

According to the theater Shuttle astronaut John Grunsfeld, who was in the movie and was one of the astronauts on the last Hubble servicing mission, was supposed to be there. However there was no John Grunsfeld. I never did ask anyone from the theater what happened.

As to the movie, the main themes were the training for the Hubble servicing mission, the actual servicing mission itself, and simulated 3D views of some of Hubble’s better known observations. The blend of shuttle launches, astronaut training, the Hubble servicing missions, and the simulated trips through the Orion Nebula and M87 kept the movie well paced.

The 3D, which relies on polarized light rather than the red/blue anaglyph, really made the movie spectacular. When the astronauts were in the Space Shuttle’s payload bay servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, it was like being there with them. One particularly effective shot was a close in view of astronaut Megan McArthur suited up prior to boarding the Space Shuttle for the STS-125 mission. She was seated and it was like she was seated only a few feet in front of me. I felt like I could reach out and give her a high-five. Megan was a mission specialist on STS-125, the 5th and final Hubble servicing mission, and worked the remote manipulator system (RMS) used to grab the Hubble Space Telescope and bring it into the Shuttle’s payload bay.

Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is arguably the best known and most photographed astronomical feature. Astronomically, the highlight of the movie was the simulated trip to and through the Orion Nebula, which is a stellar nursery. I’ve had an interest in the Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 or M42, for a long time and have in the past considered putting together a presentation on the subject. If you want to know a lot more about the Orion Nebula, I recommend the book The Orion Nebula: Where Stars Are Born.

Disappointments

There were some slow moments during the show that relied on non-3d visuals. These were primarily news reports associated with Hubble’s initial optical problems (recall that the primary mirror was ground a fraction of the width of a human hair out of shape).

I would have liked to have seen more of the movie devoted to astronomy. There were some beautiful 3D stills, like that of the Helix Nebula, and the simulated trip to the galaxy known as M87, a giant elliptical galaxy with a super massive black hole at its center. And there was more - just not enough for me.

Bottom Line

If you are at all interested in space exploration or astronomy, then this is a movie you’ll enjoy. The 3D views are amazing and the script provides a great educational opportunity. And did I mention that the 3D views are amazing.

Afterwards

After the movie we headed to Bubba Gump’s for food and drink. Bubba Gump’s wasn’t our first choice but other than Harry Caray’s, it was the only place still open. For the next hour and a half we talked some about the movie but mostly about the National Space Society and the upcoming International Space Development Conference (ISDC) - which all of us have an involvement in. For my part, I am the ISDC webmaster and am the point of contact for the Call for Papers. The ISDC is being held in Chicago this year over Memorial Day weekend and is the best space exploration conference for the general public. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and many other space luminaries, will be attending. For more about the ISDC, check out the International Space Development Conference web site.

The Hubble 3D IMAX Web Site

The IMAX folks have a web site for the Hubble 3D movie. There is background about the shuttle missions, the astronauts, and a few movie wallpapers available. Be forewarned - the web site is heavy. If you don’t have a high speed internet connection the site will take some time to load. And if you don’t have a newer computer - well let’s just say that the site will put a strain on your browser. So for more about the movie, visit www.imax.com/hubble/.

Tags: 3D, hubble, IMAX, movie
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A Personal Perspective on NASA’s New Direction

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Abandon in Place space art

Yesterday I had the privilege of being interviewed by Steve Grzanich, a reporter for WBBM-AM radio. The topic of our conversation was my reaction to this week’s announcement regarding NASA’s new budget and the decision to cancel both the Constellation program and NASA’s plans for a return of humans to the Moon. In the context of the interview I was speaking as an individual who also happens to be a director for the National Space Society and a vice president of the Chicago Society for Space Studies.

I would summarize my reaction to the new NASA direction as mixed. There is good news in the announcement but also bad news. My feeling is that on the whole, the announcement reflects an administration position that is soft on its support for space exploration.

On the good side is the plan to operate the International Space Station for an additional 5 years - until 2020. ISS was built to provide us with a science platform in space and I viewed it as the height of folly to terminate the station by de-orbiting it in 2015. Who but the government would spend 25 years and over $100 billion to build a laboratory and then abandon it only 4 years after its completion? I would also hope that when 2020 arrives, if ISS is still viable, that it be privatized for continued use and not deliberately destroyed as was originally planned.

The very good news was the expansion of a commitment for NASA to procure commercial launch services. This is something that the space movement has been advocating for years. Such a program was already underway in the guise of the COTS program. COTS - Commercial Orbital Transportation Services - is a program to procure the commercial delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). One of the driving factors for this was the “gap” - that being the period of time between the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the availability of its replacement via the Constellation program. During this gap, the U.S. government would essentially be outsourcing its access to the space station to Russia.

Tied in with the decision to expand NASA’s procurement of commercially provided services is the administration’s decision to cancel the Constellation program. Constellation is/was the program that would provide both crew (Ares I) and cargo (Ares V) launch vehicles, a crew spacecraft (Orion), and a lunar lander (Altair). Of course there is no reason why both government and commercial launch services could not have been pursued in parallel. Make no mistake - this decision was not made because the Obama administration has become pro-space advocates of free markets. Rather it is in recognition of the fact that private enterprise can probably do the job faster and cheaper and abandoning Constellation means the cost of the Constellation program can be removed from the NASA budget.

The bad news is the cancellation of plans to return humans to the Moon which once again consigns astronauts to LEO (Low Earth Orbit). A pro-space administration would have expanded the commercial program to include calls for private industry to develop a transportation system that could deliver humans and cargo to the surface of the Moon - with NASA signing on for some number of missions. There was no need to throw out the goal of returning people to the Moon.

As to NASA’s proposed budget for the next five years, the annual increases called for will be less than the rate of inflation so NASA’s purchasing power is actually going to decline over time. Given that NASA’s 2009 budget was 18.78 billion (inclusive of stimulus funds, source:NASA Budget Summary) and the proposed 2015 budget is $20.99 billion, this works out to an annual growth rate of a paltry 1.8 percent.

On the good side, the budget will provide $4.9 billion over 5 years for a space technology development program; $3.1 billion over five years for heavy lift vehicle research (recall the newly canceled Ares V heavy lift vehicle); and $7.8 billion over five years for technology demonstrations for spaceflight technologies - if the administration keeps its word. Unfortunately all the technology examples given are technologies initiated in the past but abandoned. For example - inflatable structures. Does anyone here recall TransHab?

One disconnect I noticed was NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s claim that "Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year." This means the development of a non-chemical based propulsion system. Unfortunately there is not one word about the development of such a revolutionary system in the NASA budget statement.

While there is more to say about the new direction being set for NASA, my comments here represent my reaction to the major points announced earlier this week.

The Illustration

Abandon-in-Place is a piece that I created to voice my disappointment at the cancellation of the last three Apollo missions to the Moon - one empty spacesuit for each of the canceled Apollo missions. Given that NASA has now been told by the administration to abandon plans for a human return to the Moon, this artwork seemed an appropriate piece to use. For more information about the art, see the Abandon-in-Place web page.

Ad Astra, Jim

Postscript: The National Space Society has released a press release outlining its position on the new NASA budget. See Welcomes Sci-Tech, Private-Sector Spending In 2011 Budget, But Calls For Continued Human Spaceflight Beyond Earth Orbit

Tags: budget, Constellation, nasa, Obama
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Remembering Apollo

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

A section of the Remembering Apollo digital painting

I was recently reading about the NASA pull back on its plan to send humans back to the Moon (see NASA may abandon plans for moon base) and could only shake my head in dismay.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to speak to the high school students from three high schools all of whom were members of the Space Exploration Club. My presentation was about what it takes to design and build a lunar base. As a parallel, I used the Army’s experiences with planning, building, and maintaining Camp Century. Camp Century is/was the fabled nuclear powered city under the ice. Today the name Camp Century is probably best known for its ice core samples which have played a prominent role in helping us to understand the Earth’s climate record. Camp Century was abandoned in 1966 due to the shifting movement of the glacial ice cap. This city was eventually crushed by that slow, steady movement.

I spoke to this group of 50 high school students about Camp Century and lunar bases for a solid hour and then answered questions for maybe another half hour. For me, it was a very enjoyable experience seeing how interested these students were in space exploration, science, and energy.

And then I read that NASA may not build a lunar outpost. That plus the news that Orion will be sized to carry only 4 instead of 6 astronauts is a clear indication that NASA’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. I find it hard to understand how the political leaders who spend so much time and effort telling us that we must be graduating more engineers and scientists can simultaneously scale back the one program that is such a source of inspiration to students wanting to become engineers and scientists. Does the left brain know what the right brain is up to in Washington?

This got me to thinking about the Apollo missions and the large influence that they had on my life from a philosophical perspective. The quest to understand and know the universe combined with our efforts to grow humanity so that it can exist beyond the confines of Planet Earth is a noble adventure that should be emphasized rather than trivialized. It was the contrast between what is and what could be that led me to create Remembering Apollo because right now memories of man on the Moon is all we have. I wonder just how long we can survive living off memories.

For me Remembering Apollo captures the most important features of the Apollo missions. There is the barren lunar landscape so aptly described as "magnificient desolation" by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. There is the Lunar Module - the machine that made it possible for the astronauts to land on and return from the Moon. Then there is the Astronaut - the most important element that made the Apollo missions distinct from all the other space exploration missions, mostly forgotten robotic missions to the Moon. In the book Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel, an unnamed NASA official is quoted as saying “We don’t give ticker tape parades for robots.” We remember Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, but who remembers Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, or Surveyor? The last element is the United States flag, the symbol of the nation that went to the Moon in peace "for all mankind." I must say how fortunate I consider myself to be in being a witness to this, humanity’s first small step into the wider cosmos.

Creating the Remembering Apollo digital painting

The Remembering Apollo digital painting is 5580 pixels wide by 3412 pixels tall and was digitally painted using the same technique that I developed for Quantum Moon. The digital tools that I used were a Wacom tablet, Adobe Photoshop, and a digital painter program of my own design. For other details on the picture, as well as to see both the complete picture and a full size section of the art, see the Remembering Apollo gallery page. Alternatively, an open edition print version with multiple full size excerpts can be seen at Fine Art America.

Ad Astra, Jim

Tags: Apollo, Space Art
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Space, Art, and Web Programming

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Algorithmic Waterfall

Space, art, and web programming - that’s what I’ve been spending all my spare time on lately for which postings to this blog have suffered.

On the subject of space exploration, I just finished reading Camp Century City Under the Ice by Walter Wager. Published in 1962, the book provides a general overview of Camp Century - a nuclear powered “city” then all of two years old. Existing below the surface of Greenland’s glacier, this base allowed for year round occupation and observation of the ice cap and polar winter.

I learned about Camp Century from a friend and decided to create a presentation using Camp Century as an analogy for a moon base. The number and nature of the challenges faced by the team from the Army Corps of Engineers that envisioned, built, and maintained Century were strikingly similar to the types of problems facing lunar base planners. The book’s author also foresaw this when he wrote:

Since Camp Century has already demonstrated that young Americans can survive in miserably isolated outposts under bitterly adverse conditions, the US scientists planning the Free World’s first lunar output will approach their immensely more complex assignment with a certain amount of confidence.

With respect to art, I’m still working my way through the Processing book I wrote about previously in Processing: Finding Beauty in Math. In fact I created the image Algorithmic Waterfall using Processing and techniques I learned from the book.

I have also been reading Painting the Digital River: How an Artist Learned to Love the Computer by James Faure Walker and published in 2006. It’s an interesting read with the author making points that I both agree and disagree with. Once I’ve finished it, I’ll post a more extensive review here.

As if space and art weren’t enough, I’ve also been busy working on the National Space Society’s web site. One of the hats I wear in life is that of chairing the National Space Society’s Web Oversight Committee and the Website Redesign Committee. We (we being our team of volunteers) recently completed the deployment of a new CSS drop down menu and, more time consuming and troublesome, the conversion of a thousand plus web pages from an ancient, no DOCTYPE, malformed version of HTML to XHTML compliant pages. The next phase is to create a new graphic design for the site and get it deployed. I’d really like to have the design portion done by the end of August and the actual deployment completed by the end of September, if not sooner.

Ad Astra, Jim

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A Day in Washington DC

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Capitol Building, Washington DC

Tuesday night I found myself facing a dilemma. My problem was what to do on Wednesday. I was faced with two radically different alternatives. This was my fourth trip to DC and I had come in two days early so that I could spend the day before the International Space Development Conference sightseeing and photographing - an opportunity I never got to take on my previous three trips.

My plan was to rise early, get tickets to ascend the Washington Monument for a great view of the city, and then head over to the National Academy of Sciences to take in “The Last Iceberg”, an exhibit of photographs by Camille Seaman. After that, more photographing the various national monuments.

Or I could join National Space Society Executive Vice President Greg Allison and visit the offices of several U.S. Senators and Representatives for meetings with aides for the purpose of outlining why the senator/representative should support space in general and full funding for the NASA budget in particular. My mental calculus was this: I could come to D.C. and take photos anytime but how often would I have the opportunity to sit down and speak with legislative staff about the importance of human and robotic space exploration.

The next morning three teams of blitzers met at the Dirksen Building cafeteria for breakfast. Greg Allison, Myrna Coffino, and myself were Team Two. Our first visit was to the office of Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) to meet with Legislative Aide Ryan Habmleton. We had made it through most of our informal presentation when a fire drill ousted us from the building.

After an hour outside, our team split up in order to make both our appointments. Myrna, who is from New York, headed off to visit with Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s (D-NY) Staff Assistant Linda Forman, and Greg, who is from Alabama, and I, whose family is from Mississippi, headed to Senator Wicker’s (R-MS) office to meet with Legislative Assistant Kelly Mixon. I really enjoyed our meeting with Kelly, who was both gracious (southern charm) and attentive. Good vibes all around

Our teams met back at the cafeteria for lunch and then took off for our afternoon round of visits. Our first visit was with Robert Bovard, Legislative Correspondent for Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). This was followed by a lengthy visit with Mike Buttry, the Chief of Staff for Senator Hagel (R-NB). Mr. Buttry was the highest ranking individual we met with that day and scored “5’s” from us across the board in our post-meeting review. Mr. Buttry demonstrated that he was well informed on the relevant issues. He even volunteered a fair amount of useful advice for us. This, our last meeting of the day, definitely left us feeling good.

Our teams then met up at the American Restaurant in Union Station to have drinks and dinner and compare notes. All in all, the three teams had generally positive feedback from the staffers we met with, which was encouraging. After that we caught the Metro back to the hotel, ditched our suits and ties, and took on a more casual appearance.

Meeting back in the lobby, we ran into Chris Carberry, the new Executive Director for the Mars Society. Chris, Greg, myself, and Rick Zucker - the mastermind and coordinator of the day’s visit to the Capitol, headed out to McCormick & Schmick’s for drinks and eats - in that order. A round of Guiness later we were ready to order. Having already eaten, I opted for desert - smartly taking Lauren’s advice by ordering her favorite dessert - double baked apple pie with a walnut glaze and cinnamon ice cream. FYI, Loren was our waitress and she did an outstanding job. Later I put Greg on the spot by telling Lauren that Greg would write a poem about her before we left. Not one to back down from a challenge, Greg rose to the occasion and wrote a short poem that impressed Lauren and the rest of us. If only I could remember it, I’d reproduce it here.

And that’s where I’ll end this story of my second day -Wed. May 28 - in Washington D.C.

Ad Astra, Jim

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The Passing of Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger (at right) in 1999.

I was saddened to learn last night of the death earlier in the day of Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger. Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger was one of the last surviving members of the Peenemuende rocket team that came to America after World War II with Dr. Wernher von Braun (Operation Paperclip).

I had the good fortune to meet and speak with Dr. Stuhlinger on a couple occasions over the years. He was very generous in volunteering to mail me typewritten versions of a couple of his presentations so that I could add them to my Astrodigital web site and publish them in the Chicago Society for Space Studies newsletter Spacewatch which I edited at that time.

In addition to having a Ph.D. in physics, Dr. Stuhlinger’s career with NASA included serving as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center space science lab from 1960 to 1968, followed by being the associate director for science from 1968 to 1975, after which he retired from NASA. Dr. Stuhlinger worked on Explorer 1 - America’s first successful satellite, part of which I have been told was built in his garage! Dr. Stuhlinger was also a pioneer in the field of electric propulsion and wrote the book Ion Propulsion for Space Flight. In 2005, the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society awarded him their “Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion.”

Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger
Born: 19 December 1913 in Niederrimbach, Germany
Died: 25 May 2008 in Huntsville AL, USA

Ad Astra Dr. Stuhlinger

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Art and the Promotion of Space Exploration

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

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

Posted in Presentations, Space Art, Space Exploration | 4 Comments »

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International Space Development Conference Day Two

International Space Development Conference - Day 1