Category Archives: Space Arts

Contests and Games, Space Arts, Space participation

Enterprise in Space announces orbiter design contest winners

An announcement from the National Space Society:

Enterprise in Space Announces Orbiter Design Contest Winners

Press Release: February 3rd 2015: Enterprise In Space (EIS), a project of the National Space Society, is excited to announce the winners of the Enterprise in Space Orbiter Design Contest.  The EIS project will take the Grand Prize winning design, which is a visualization of a science fiction concept, and make it science fact. EIS will do this by building the winning design and sending it into Earth orbit as the first real spacecraft bearing the name Enterprise.  This mission is also unique in that it will carry more than 100 student experiments into space and back.

Enterprise_In_Space5-1024x635[1]Grand Prize Winner by Stanley Von Medvey

The Grand Prize winning entry was submitted by Stanley Von Medvey, a concept artist who grew up in Chicago and currently resides in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.  Von Medvey draws inspiration from the fields of aerospace and science.  When asked why he entered the contest, Von Medvey responded, “I have a deep love for space exploration. Participation in spaceflight experiments as a student was formative, so I’d love to contribute to another young person’s learning in a similar way.”

EIS_sPestana2[1]First Prize Winner by Steven Pestana

The First Prize winner is Steven Pestana, a college senior at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona studying geology and physics with plans to pursue a career in planetary and space science research and exploration. Pestana  was motivated to entered the contest in order to “support science education through the EIS project.”

NSSJohnCortesISO4.JPG-1024x576[1]Second Prize Winner by John Cortes

The Second Prize winner is John Cortes, a first-year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering.  Originally from Colombia, Cortes migrated to the United States at the age of ten.  On entering the contest, Cortes told EIS that “I am a firm believer in educating our youth on the potential benefits of space exploration.  So much of our current technology has come from the space programs around the world, it’s only right that we continue on this path.  I entered a design because I really enjoy designing spacecraft and this was a perfect opportunity to fulfill a dream of seeing one of my designs come to life.”

“The Enterprise in Space team and I want to thank all the people who sent in their wonderful and imaginative science fiction inspired ship designs from all over the world,” said EIS Founder Shawn Case.  “It was nice to see entries from so many artistic and engineering perspectives.”

This contest constitutes the first phase of the Enterprise In Space project, whose mission is to design, build, launch, orbit, re-enter, and tour a satellite that will carry more than 100 competitively-selected student experiments into space and back.  It was an open international contest seeking science fiction inspired spacecraft designs. This was followed by a public vote to identify the most popular designs submitted to the contest. The final step of the selection process was an evaluation of each design by a panel of expert judges.

Judging the contest were EIS Contest Manager Jim Plaxco, EIS Chief Engineer Fred Becker, Terminal Velocity Aerospace CEO Dominic DePasquale, SNG Studio owner Steve Neill, Consulting Senior Illustrator Andrew Probert, International Association of Astronomical Artists President Jon Ramer, and The Light Works CEO Tobias Richter.

With respect to the judging process, Jim Plaxco stated that “the judges evaluated the design submissions based on their engineering practicality, originality, and design aesthetics. We debated the merits of the various designs and in the end it took us two rounds of voting to arrive at a consensus.” The winning designs can be seen at www.enterpriseinspace.org/winner/

The next phase of the design process is to have an aerospace engineering firm create the necessary engineering drawings and specifications from the winning entry.  Follow the progress of the historic EIS project – from winning entry to engineering design to construction and flight – at www.enterpriseinspace.org.

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About Enterprise In Space (EIS): Enterprise In Space is a first-of-its-kind publicly funded grassroots space project. The project will fly an orbiter with 100+ student experiments into space and then have it return to Earth. It is an educational project of the National Space Society, a non-profit organization. All contributions are tax-free and its wesite is www.enterpirseinspace.org

About National Space Society (NSS): NSS is an independent non-profit educational membership organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen’s voice on space, with over 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The Society publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space.  Its website is www.nss.org

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Here is a video overview of the Enterprise in Space program:

Space Arts, Space Systems

Space art led Belbruno to better space travel

Edward Belbruno has become well known for developing new orbital mechanics techniques that allow spacecraft to move about the solar system more efficiently, i.e with less fuel than a conventional approach. See, for example, From chaos, a new order – The Space Review – Mar. 6.200 6 –

This sensitivity to initial conditions may be a challenge to theoreticians, but it provides an opportunity for those who want to leverage it in spaceflight applications. One of the first to explore the potential of chaotic dynamics in spaceflight is Ed Belbruno, a visiting researcher at Princeton University. Working as an orbit analyst at JPL twenty years ago—new to the field of astrodynamics but with a doctorate in mathematics—he looked to alternatives to the traditional method to sending spacecraft to the Moon and planets. That approach, a Hohmann transfer orbit from the Earth and a “capture maneuver” at the destination, works well, but requires a high change in velocity, or delta-v, to perform the capture maneuver. Barring the availability of alternative deceleration techniques, like aerobreaking, this delta-v requirement translates into substantial propellant, and thus a heavier spacecraft.

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Belbruno asked if there was a way for a spacecraft to perform a “ballistic capture” maneuver: to arrive at the Moon, for example, on a specific trajectory that would allow it to enter orbit without any delta-v at all. While his JPL colleagues at the time were convinced that it wasn’t possible, Belbruno studied the problem and found there was a way, as he put it, “to slowly creep up” on the Moon, arriving such that all the forces were balanced, allowing the spacecraft to go into orbit rather than escaping from or crashing into the Moon.

Belbruno first proposed taking advantage of “weak stability boundary theory” in 1986 for a proposed small lunar orbiter that could be launched from a Get Away Special canister in the shuttle’s cargo bay. …

Belbruno  is also an artist and he says the act of painting helped him develop ideas like using the weak stability boundary technique : Painting Our Way to the Moon – Space.com.

I  am both a scientist and an artist. The paintings that I create have given rise to interesting scientific discoveries. The paintings don’t just inspire me to pursue a particular avenue of study — they literally have the key within them to help me figure out how to solve complex scientific problems. The process of how this occurs is somewhat mysterious and has happened to me many times, and recently gave rise to a revolutionary new route to the Moon.

Check out some of his art at The Cosmic Art of Edward Belbruno (Gallery) – space.com.

Space Arts, Space Settlement

NSS 2015 Space Settlement Art Contest

The National Space Society is once again hosting the Roadmap to Space Settlement Art Contest.

The National Space Society (NSS) is looking for student artists to create ORIGINAL illustrations for the NSS Roadmap to Space Settlement. Submitted artwork should REALISTICALLY illustrate this year’s themes: People Living and Working in Space Settlements.

marte-650[1]Mars from a young perspective
by Javier Arizabalo [Milestone 17]

Students between the ages of 13 and 25 can submit their entries at Space Settlement Contest.

Exoplanets, Multiple media, Space Arts

Space art: PlanetQuest Exoplanet Travel Posters

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NASA’s PlanetQuest website, which provides info on the search for earth-like exoplanets, now offers beautiful posters in the Exoplanet Travel Series.  The set currently includes posters for three distant planets of particular interest:

Kepler-186f_39x27[1]

 

Kepler-186f is the first Earth-size planet discovered in the potentially ‘habitable zone’ around another star, where liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface. Its star is much cooler and redder than our Sun. If plant life does exist on a planet like Kepler-186f, its photosynthesis could have been influenced by the star’s red-wavelength photons, making for a color palette that’s very different than the greens on Earth. This discovery was made by Kepler, NASA’s planet hunting telescope.

HD_40307g_20x30[1]

 

Twice as big in volume as the Earth, HD 40307g straddles the line between “Super-Earth” and “mini-Neptune” and scientists aren’t sure if it has a rocky surface or one that’s buried beneath thick layers of gas and ice. One thing is certain though: at eight time the Earth’s mass, its gravitational pull is much, much stronger.

Kepler-16b_20x-30[1]

 

Like Luke Skywalker’s planet “Tatooine” in Star Wars, Kepler-16b orbits a pair of stars. Depicted here as a terrestrial planet, Kepler-16b might also be a gas giant like Saturn. Prospects for life on this unusual world aren’t good, as it has a temperature similar to that of dry ice. But the discovery indicates that the movie’s iconic double-sunset is anything but science fiction.

Education, Space Arts, Space participation

Commercial Crew Program 2015 Children’s Artwork Calendar now available

I mentioned here earlier the call by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program for artwork submissions for possible inclusion in a 2015 CCP calendar. The calendar can now be downloaded and printed:

CommercialCrewCalendar_ChildrensArt