Week 9: Space and Art

Personal Project, depicting first American spacewalk outside Gemini IV

Covering the last topic for this course, we move beyond earthly disciplines and into space. Exploring space is truly the final frontier, a widely interdisciplinary field encompassing astrophysics, aerospace engineering, biotechnology, mathematics, biology, materials science, robotics and nanotechnology, and more, many of which we have covered in the scope of this course.

Space is a huge inspiration for my career. I have always been fascinated by space, its history, present, and future. I can't think of any thought more fundamental to consciousness than an individual to ponder what it is, where it is, how it got there and why it is there. These answers may lie in observing the impacts of past events in outer space, giving us clues to the nature of the Big Bang.

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The advancement of the human species may rely on its ability to move beyond Earth, throughout our solar system and eventually beyond. Strictly speaking, our Earth and Sun have lifetimes, but our species does not, which means we will eventually have to move beyond. While these lifetimes are long and something that anyone alive would ever need to worry about, the technological challenges presented by space travel are issues in fundamental physics that have yet to be solved, and will require hundreds or thousands of years to overcome. With this in mind, I chose to study Aerospace Engineering.

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While aerospace technology can be and is implemented into art, space is are quickly becoming more accessible to art and other projects. With the advancement of CubeSats, launching a payload into space is quicker and easier than ever before, and has been utilized for artistic projects. The CubeSat standard was developed by the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and quickly accepted by the engineering community. It simplifies nano-satellites, allowing low-budget and amateur groups to launch experiments into space.

Images taken by NASA are often released to the public, making them accessible to artists. These images are often edited and used to produce artistic images, such as in image [2]. This image was created by Zouassi, one of my personal favorite artists, who often uses NASA images as a starting point.

Microsatellites are widely used for Earth imaging, keeping a full map of the Earth updated constantly. These images can be used for weather, navigation, or even art. An artist I find very interesting is T. Strömberg, who exclusively uses images from Google's satellites to produce art, shown in image [3].

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A giant in the microsatellite and Earth-imaging industry is Planet Labs. While images produced by imagery can be used for art, Planet Labs even flies art up to space. Image [4] shows art laser-etched into the panel walls of a satellite. This was used to bring attention to the importance of constantly updated images of Earth, and showcased their first artist-in-residence, Forest Stearns.

Another example of art in space is Tama Art University's ARTSAT project: INVADER (Interactive satellite for Art and Design Experimental Research). The Japanese student group aims for a practical use of a satellite for art and design. The satellite contains various sensors, including Lightning Equipment which changes color according to temperature data, a small camera taking images of Earth to utilize in art, and a voice data transmitter. The project aims to increase interest in awareness of art & nanosatellites and amateur radio.


References: 

1. Vesna, Victoria. "Space." YouTube. YouTube, 29 July 2013. Web. 04 June 2017.
2. "Zouassi • Instagram Photos and Videos." Instagram. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2017.
3. "T. Strömberg (@to.stromberg) • Instagram Photos and Videos." Instagram. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017.
4. McKinnon, Mika. "Microsatellite Art In Orbit." Gizmodo. Gizmodo.com, 22 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 June 2017.
5. "PROJECT1:INVADER." ARTSAT. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2017.