Space Settlement Art Contest
Published on Dec 1, 2007 at 4:41 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under space exploration.
About a half century ago, Wernher von Braun proposed that one day soon, there would be vast orbiting space stations. He envisioned giant cylinders and toruses slowing spinning to produce artificial gravity through centripetal forces. With the rapid progress in space travel and space exploration of the 1960s and early 1970s, it seemed that his vision would come to pass. An early scene of Stanley Kubric’s 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey shows just such a station. But, such a feat is difficult and expensive. It seemed just out of reach at that time. Arthur C. Clarke, who originally wrote the novel that Kubric’s movie was based on, stated once that fantastic ideas of this sort go through three stages on their way to fruition. First, it is said that such an endeavor can’t be done. Then, people realize that it can be done, but that it probably isn’t worth the effort: it is too expensive, it won’t bring enough of a return for the investment, etc. Then, finally, once the idea is put into practice, everyone agrees that it was really a wonderful idea in the first place. Geosynchronous satellites are such an idea. At first, the idea of putting a satellite into orbit over one spot on Earth seemed fantastic and unrealistic. The, rockets developed that could do the job, but no one saw any need for such a satellite. Now, geosynchronous satellites are essential for communication and commerce, and society as we know it depends upon them. Currently, space settlements, as envisioned by von Braun and others, are in the second stage. We now know that they can likely be done, but only at great cost, and the average person believes that the cost is too great and the return too small. However, many people in space exploration believe that such settlements are inevitable, and that the ultimate return would be far greater than the impact that geosynchronous satellites would bring. I may blog about that in a later entry.
What I really wanted to talk about today is a space art contest being sponsored by the National Space Society. I heard about this contest last year, and they are dong it again this year. The contest is for artists to design images of space settlements for the 2009 Space Settlement Calendar. The 2008 calendar (on sale now) showcases winners from last year’s contest. They are looking for visions of space settlements. The settlement doesn’t have to be a space station (though that is fine!). It can feature a space settlement on the Moon, Mars, or even on an asteroid. The idea is to come up with images of a possible future for humanity in space.
The Grand Prize winner will have their artwork featured on the cover of the calendar. They will also receive $200 in cash and three graphics software packages, as well as several other prizes. There will be four First Prize winners, each receiving $100 in cash and a graphics package, among other prizes.  The First Prize winners will be each from the categories of space settlements: orbital, lunar, Martian, or asteroid. Those five winners will join seven others in having their artwork featured in the calendar. Several artists have already submitted entries, and some of them can already be viewed online.  The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2008. You can find out more about the contest here.
-Astroprof
