ISDC Space Settlement Art Contest Presentation

Title: The National Space Society Space Settlement Art Contest

In 2006, NSS launched the Space Settlement Art Contest. The purposes of the contest were to generate new artwork depicting space settlement; encourage artists in the creation of such art; to raise public awareness about space settlement by maintaining an online art gallery and featuring the best contest art in a space settlement calendar. To ensure the success of the contest, sponsors donated over $10,000.00 in prizes. For three months artists from around the world submitted art to the contest. Of more than 100 entries submitted, seventy were accepted.

Contest judges faced the task of choosing just 12 winning images for the calendar. A panel of judges was assembled by Chief Judge Jim Plaxco, committee chair. The panel featured two world renowned space artists: David A. Hardy, author and a winner of the Sir Arthur Clarke Award, from the United Kingdom; and Pat Rawlings, SAIC Art Director, of the United States. Also on the panel were George Whitesides, Executive Director of the NSS and Peter Kokh, President of the Moon Society. Winning artists were from Germany, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Grand Prize image came from the Orbital Settlements category. The Return To Abalakin by Alexander Preuss excelled in its representation of a toroidal space city of a million inhabitants.

Winning First Prize in the Orbital Settlements category is a beach view of sunrise in an O'Neill Colony. Islands of the Gods is the creation of Richard Bizley. Another submission from the Orbital Settlements category that will be featured in the calendar is Inside Orbital City by Murphy Elliott.

First Prize winner in the Martian Settlements category is Javier Arizabalo. His Mars from a Young Perspective features a spacesuited boy gazing dreamingly into the distance as a rocket lifts off. Other images chosen from the Martian Settlement category for inclusion in the calendar are: Second Outpost by Janek Kozicki featuring an early outpost on Mars; Mars Gardens by Alex Aurichio which illustrates the use of bioengineered plants to enhance the martian atmosphere.

In the Asteroid Settlements category, First Prize went to Dr. Chee Ming Wong for his Asteroid Settlement: Slingshot To The Galaxy. This work illustrates the use of an asteroid's raw materials for the creation of space settlements. Other images in the Asteroid Settlement category which will be featured in the space settlement calendar are: A Mining Settlement On 90 Antiope by Walter Myers which gives a bird's eye view of a mining settlement on the double asteroid 90 Antiope; City Under Glass by Raymond Cassel illustrating asteroid cities connected by tethers.

Winning First Prize in the Moon Settlement category is Warren Turner. His Moonbase Preparations features mining operations on the lunar surface. Other images from the Moon Settlement category to be featured in the calendar are: Descent Into The Dark Side by Raymond Cassel featuring a night time lunar orbit view of a moon base; The Soaring Arena by Bill Wright illustrating the potential for human powered flight inside large lunar arenas.