The approach
Veronica Keff
December 4th, 2024
Major: Astrophysics, minor in Mathematics
Genre/Medium: Laser Show; BEYOND Laser System Software at Fiske Planetarium. Original animation created in ToonSquid, with Psyche’s trajectory data compiled by Paige Arthur
About the work:
“The Approach” is a laser show that tells the story of the Psyche spacecraft’s trajectory around asteroid 16 Psyche. Starting with an idea of a digital painting, the piece evolved from an abstract depiction of orbits around 16 psyche to a 2 minute laser show at Fiske Planetarium showcasing the spiral path of the probe around the asteroid.
Why lasers? I wanted to reference how Psyche communicates with mission control on Earth via NASA’s DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) experiment. This allows spacecraft traveling the solar system to communicate with Earth via the near-infrared laser transceiver fitted on the spacecraft itself and receiving ground stations on Earth (e.g. Palomar’s Hale Telescope). Read more…
