Anniversary

Hoang Nguyen

November 25th, 2024

Major: Astronomy

Genre/Medium: digital illustration

About the work:

Remembering the affection that many people had for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, I wondered if, by depicting Psyche in a humanoid form, I could evoke sympathy for a spacecraft. It happened to be near the first anniversary of Psyche’s launch, so in my piece I’ve thrown a somewhat lonely little birthday party for the beloved child.

It’s my instinct to lean Baroque, but I felt it was necessary for the scene to be set solidly in the 21st century. These sort of conflicting ideas were hard to resolve, and I think my attempt to do that is what pushed the image in the direction of, say, a still life in a book of hide-and-seek puzzles you might’ve had as a kid, or maybe a secret room in a dream you’ve had and since forgotten.

I draped the room in dark cloth to set the scene with the loneliness of the journey and the quiet of empty space. There is a bit of a liminal feel to it, which is fitting as the spacecraft is currently cruising through interplanetary space, very literally in between worlds. There are some souvenirs from home; there’s the miniature Falcon Heavy on the dresser, a twist on the ship in a bottle, and a picture of Earth as Psyche would have seen it during those first hundred days spent in orbit—perhaps the chest of drawers will fill up with more things collected along the way. A reminder of the destination—the asteroid which might teach us about the childhoods of our terrestrial planets—hangs in the back of the image as Psyche begins to unveil models of Earth and Mars.

We’re a long way from home and a long way from the end, but in the meantime we can celebrate the accomplishment of having gotten here.

View Full Project

Psyche Inspired is a program that brings undergraduate students from any discipline or major together to share the excitement, innovation, and scientific and engineering content of NASA’s Psyche mission with the public in new ways through artistic and creative works. This year’s Psyche Inspired cohort is known as the Iridium Class. These works are posted in the gallery and highlighted on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram. View the full resolution images in the image gallery. There are many ways to get involved with NASA’s Psyche mission. Learn how you can be a part of the Psyche mission through our “Get Involved” pages at https://psyche.asu.edu/get-involved/ and https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/ways-to-participate/. To learn more about the overall Psyche mission, visit nasa.gov/psyche or jpl.nasa.gov/missions/psyche.

Date Added: 11-25-2024
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Hoang Nguyen

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