MARS CRATER DRIVE-BY Painting

We stopped by this little fresh crater in Utopia and EVA'd by ATV to the rim. This painting depicts two pressurized rovers, each escorted by two smaller robotic ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles), traversing the Martian landscape. This concept of operation stems from the field lessons my teammates and I have learned over the years on the NASA HMP (Haughton-Mars Project) on Devon Island in the Arctic. Firstly, pressurized rovers should always go out on traverses in at least pairs, so that one rover may rescue the other if one rover becomes immobilized. The lead pressurized rover normally serves as the exploration vehicle, while the second rover focuses on logistical and safety support, for instance comms relay. The second rover will minimize risk by following in the exact path blazed by the first rover, provided it proves safe of course. Secondly, the ATVs serve as self-driving robotic scouts and also as drivable unpressurized individual astronaut transports once a region of interest (ROI) is reached and local short-range (< 2km) EVAs are needed (EVA stands for Extra-Vehicular Activity, meaning any activity requiring an astronaut to be in a spacesuit). Each ATV is a mobile PLSS (Portable Life Support System) and remains in close proximity to the astronaut it is assigned to during EVAs. This allows the Mars astronaut's spacesuit to carry less oxygen and smaller batteries, thus helping make the suit as light as possible. The ATVs may also be positioned to serve as comms relays. In a contingency, each ATV can carry two astronauts. In this painting, wide trails show where the column of vehicles went. As the column approached the crater, the explorers first rounded the rougher parts of the ejecta blanket and examined a few large distal ejecta blocks. Then, a smoother approach path was taken to get closer to the crater's rim. The pressurized rovers were parked shy of the rim itself, and the astronauts went on EVA, taking ATVs to reach the rim crest and eventually back to their pressurized rovers. They created tighter ATV trails in the process. The dark circles to the left are where I left my coffee pot and coffee mug. Just kidding! They are "palimpsests", heavily eroded older craters reduced to barely visible scars in the landscape.

Painting:Oil on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:24 W x 18 H x 1 D in

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