“A great ending to a new beginning” is the effort of four space enthusiasts fascinated about the vastity of the universe that want to promote the importance of future moon exploration.

Our motto, “We are not alone”, comes from the observation that Earth was always accompanied in its journey through the vastness of time and space by the Moon, turned into a beacon of our civilization’s greatest achievements and natural aspirations.

We were bold to fulfil our greatest dream in 1969, and since then have shown a fantastic capacity to further innovate, develop and improve, entering into the new era of the knowledge-based societies.

We showcase humanity’s need to continue this dream through an artistic view of a future moon exploration phase.With artistically modified NASA imagery and a torus-based space settlement designed by us, our art envisions life on the moon: suited astronauts exploring the soil, an LRV transporting cargo, and a lunar lander attaching to the surface.

Even though we only met the day before the hackathon, we managed to collaborate fruitfully and find common views, idea and arguments.

In our endeavors to utilize the NASA resources as effectively as possible, we introduced technologies used during Apollo missions and NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) concepts such as:

• the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) rode by David R. Scott, commander, and James B. Irvin, lunar module pilot (Apollo 15) [2]
• a human and resource habitat [4]
• a CLPS lander that will carry NASA-provided science and technology payloads to the lunar surfaces by 2024 [5]
• the Lunar Module (Apollo 15)

Challenges we faced:

• It took us a while to decide between creating an artistic video (a hand painted frame-by-frame animation) or a painting. While the initial motion sketches were very promising, bringing wealth to the message, we soon realised it would have not been feasible due to the short time of the hackathon.
• We debated over subtitles vs. voiceover, and we chose the latter to add a personal touch to it
• The recordings we made for the pitch video voiceover required hard work, but it was great fun. Some good takes had to be discarded, as Ares, a 1yo Norrbottenspets, wanted to add his “voice” to the project too.
• We argued around adding the torus / O’Neal habitat orbiting in the upper-left or not, and whether it should be a finalized habitat or a partly built installation. Some made the argument that by the time we would have the technical and engineering capabilities to build such a habitat, the technologies and designs shown on the moon surface might get obsolete. We chose to be optimistic and to push many boundaries.

Tools we used:

• Drawing and image editing: Adobe Photoshop CS6
• Video editing for the 30 seconds pitch: iMovie
• Designing the space settlement: 3ds Max

#settlement #exploration #astronauts #artemis #life #apollo #Earth #research #civilization #moon #torus

[1] https://images.nasa.gov/details-NHQ201910150003

[2] https://images.nasa.gov/details-S71-39868

[3] https://images.nasa.gov/details-as14-66-09241

[4] https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/dictionary/Habitat.html

[5] https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-12-new-lunar-science-technology-investigations

[6] https://images.nasa.gov/details-as15-88-11866

Other resources used:

1. Picture of the solar system https://www.nasa.gov/content/searching-for-water-in-the-solar-system-and-beyond

2. Moon surface:

a.https://images.nasa.gov/details-as15-82-11082

b.https://images.nasa.gov/details-9407070

c.https://images.nasa.gov/details-jsc2011e118359

3. American Astronauts to Moon in 2024: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sending-american-astronauts-to-moon-in-2024-nasa-accepts-challenge

4. “Wheel” audio file: https://www.nasa.gov/mp3/640174main_Wheel%20Stop.mp3

5. Space shuttle landing comments audio file: https://www.nasa.gov/mp3/590316main_ringtone_135_landingNaviusComments.mp3

6. Apollo 11 :https://images.nasa.gov/details-S69-32245

7. US Flag on the Moon: https://images.nasa.gov/details-as15-88-11866

(all links have been last accessed on 10/20/2019)

We are sure many of you will make our vision come true.

Thank you!

The Lunatix