Mars South Pole inspired painting with fantasy rover included 3ftX 1ft on canvas – Acrylic, Das clay, and a Curiosity Rover.Perseverance
This week Perseverance landed on Mars. What an achievement for both NASA and the world of exploration. It brought back memories of my visit to Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center in 2011. My visit then was to see the launch of Curiosity to Mars. An event that blew me away, or it felt like that at the time. I felt the power of the rocket launch in every cell of my body. Mars gave me inspiration. This experience led me on to do several paintings. Not precisely right away but in the following years. It takes a long time for such a powerful experience to develop into something that feels real. The painting above is one such work. I created it using a palette knife and thick acrylic paint.
In this short video clip below, I explain this painting.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29OztrdC1wo[/embedyt]
Inspiration
Curiosity has given us so much information about Mars. It is still going, still exploring on our behalf. Perseverance will continue that building of knowledge that one day will bring Mars closer to us all. Witnessing Apollo 11, landing on the moon inspired me for decades. It has sown the seeds for the entire space program up to this decade. I am hoping that the exploration plans for Mars missions will inspire many young people. Inspiration is like perpetual fuel, it never seems to run out. When it happens to you it is truly a forever friend.
When inspiration invites me to paint an aspect of Mars, thick paint is the only answer. I applied it in layers with lots of rough surface features. In the painting above, I also made craters directly out of paint. When they dried, I added them to the work to give the surface a highly textured level. On several occasions, I took the painting off the wall and brought it to workshops. Bringing it along to classrooms allowed the children to feel it, to feel what Mars is like in a small way. To explore with their tiny fingers a planet that is so far away. Of course they loved the tiny rover, which prompted many questions.
Tech Video
This week before the launch of Perseverance, I watched a Tech presentation live from NASA via YouTube. It is informative; I have included the link below. Several aspects of the mission and its technology impressed me. The TRN stands for Terrain Relative Navigation. The TRN enables the rover to have some rapid decisions on its trajectory as it is coming into land. The rover can change its direction if needed to protect it from crashing. The MOXIE instrument is also innovative. The word stands for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. The device can turn co2 into o2; how cool is that? It can use the atmosphere of Mars to create breathable air for humans.  Seeing humans walk on Mars ( safely, of course) is one of my life wishes. The target is Mars, and the technology is ramping up in a big way. Equally important is the level of precision and dedication of scientists and technicians working on the mission. Can’t wait to see how it all goes.
Two images showing children exploring Mars with their fingers
Tech Video
This week before the launch of Perseverance, I watched a Tech presentation live from NASA via YouTube. It is informative; I have included the link below. Several aspects of the mission and its technology impressed me. The TRN stands for Terrain Relative Navigation. The TRN enables the rover to have some rapid decisions on its trajectory as it is coming into land. The rover can change its direction if needed to protect it from crashing. The MOXIE instrument is also innovative. The word stands for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. The device can turn co2 into o2; how cool is that? It can use the atmosphere of Mars to create breathable air for humans.  Seeing humans walk on Mars ( safely, of course) is one of my life wishes. The target is Mars, and the technology is ramping up in a big way. Equally important is the level of precision and dedication of scientists and technicians working on the mission.
Engineering and Tech Overview from JPL NASA
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