Everybody wants to go to Mars these days, not least of all Elon Musk, who might very well be hoping to retire there after he turns into a cyborg. But for those of you who havent jumped on the bandwagon yet, SpaceX just dropped some travel posters of the Red Planet to entice you.
For a company known for pushing the technological envelope forward, the Mars travel posters are endearingly retro. Like the exoplanet tourism posters NASA dropped earlier this year, this calls back to a simpler time, when science fiction was about valiant heroes with jetpacks and ray guns fighting bug-eyed space aliens. Lets take a peek at em.
Valles Marineris is a system of canyons that run along the Martian equator. More than 2,500 miles long, 120 miles wide and 23,000 feet deep, this rift system, probably the result of ancient tectonic activity, is one of the largest in our solar system, surpassed only by a handful of rift valleys here on Earth. Itd probably be a rather fun place to explore, even bring the kidsassuming you have jetpacks and a bubble helmet like this guy does.
Only the most adventurous hikers should try to scale Olympus Mons , a shield volcano three times taller than Mount Everest. Despite being utterly massivethe entire mountain covers a surface area roughly the size of Arizonaits actually a rather shallow ascent, with an average slope of only 5 degrees. This poster, then, might be making a teensy exaggeration, probably to sell us on the gondola, which does look pretty great.
Mars has two funny little lopsided moons , Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic), named after the horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek war god Ares. Thought to be captured asteroids, both moons are tidally locked, always presenting the same face toward Mars, meaning you can certainly look forward to constant vistas of the red planet if choose your real estate wisely.
Of course, Mars in reality is still a cold, airless wasteland, and none of the places depicted in this poster are likely to be good spots for human settlement. Still, youve got to applaud the company for trying to turn Mars into an attractive and exotic tourist destination. I almost want to pack my oxygen mask and go.
Talk of travel to Mars, colonization there and space exploration in general has been in the news of late, so travel potters for Mars seems the next logical step in the marketing program
And they are beautiful illustrations to boot
Enjoy
They sure are beautiful...and I love the artist's creativity andimagination....nice find RIO!!
Nona
Thanks for stopping by
Glad you liked the pics
These are poster-like and the tonal gradations put them in a place between minimalism and realism.
I prefer more "content" and detail a more "literal" style, but, these are professional and appealing nevertheless.
Great images. However, making a move to China was to as exotic a destination as I had or have any desire of accomplishing, notwithstanding the significant adventure advertised by those posters.
Very nice! I wish there were really tickets available and that I could afford one. I'd go in a heartbeat. Hell I'd go anywhere in space.
A Mac
Thanks for the perspective, your expertise in photography and art is always appreciated. I am actually starting to understand more of the terminology that you use to describe the art and pictures.
Thanks for helping me learn
Buzz
Appreciate the feedback
A trip to China has been on our bucket list for a number of years
M M
Many of us have dreamed of traveling in space since the days of watching Buck Rogers on television and even before from reading scifi novels
Thanks for the feedback