Imagine Mars

Jan 12th 2011



JPL's website describes its Imagine Mars program as "a national arts, sciences, and technology education initiative that leads students to work together with scientists, engineers, artists, and civic leaders to design and share a futuristic Mars community for 100 people." After seeing a presentation on the program, my only disappointment was that I didn't get to participate! It's such an incredible opportunity for students to use their imagination, but it also incorporates science, technology, and problem solving. I was astonished by the beauty of some of these designs for Mars colonies- some of them looked like something out of the Jetsons, others were art pieces in and of themselves.

Given that the projects are coordinated with scientists and engineers, I imagine that the designs are at least somewhat viable (assuming we can get to Mars/find necessary resources like water..) All the more reason to admire these bright students and their ingenuity.

I wasn't able to find the images in Daniel Delgado's presentation on the program's website, but I'll continue to search so I can share them with all of you! Overall, I'd say Imagine Mars was the clearest and most entertaining synthesis of art and science that I've seen at JPL.