When I was young, Mars was the planet I most wanted to discover. It was almost magically unattainable, as unreal as my childhood fantasies of flying through space. I remember imagining all the equipment and food I would need to survive there. Neil de Grasse Tyson explaining how to survive anywhere in the galaxy reminds me of my science teacher explicitly bursting my bubble when I was 7 by telling me I would die there almost immediately after landing, that is if I ever would be able to land there.
Exactly two years ago today, Mars became so much more real for me, and for everyone else on earth. The Mars rover Curiosity, a one-ton piece of advanced engineering, touched down on the red planet and began broadcasting back images. Today also marks our second year anniversary as we have launched the same day Curiosity landed on Mars, by random coincidence.
It’s continued to gather and transmit remarkable images and data of Mars. A mission that was supposed to last for two years has now been extended indefinitely. Our Curiosity for Mars knows no bounds...
To mark this inspiring mission, I’m thrilled to announced Mars, Revealed! — a stunning collection of otherwordly images of the red planet, printed on high quality silk-modal made between Italy and New York.
We may not live on Mars (yet!), but Mars can live on us.
Mars, Revealed! consists of six Creative Commons images of the Red Planet from NASA’s MRO Mars High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment near iArabia Terra. One remarkable thing you’ll see is how earthlike the images appear at first glance. Mars is millions of miles away, but these scarves make it feel familiar.
It’s luxury fashion meets space. It’s also a beautiful example of how open knowledge can be used to make us feel more connected to the universe.
Mars, Revealed! keeps with a key theme of Slow Factory: making unreachable aspects of our world touchable and wearable. The universe has shrunk, space is less distant, and we are all inextricably linked to one another.
Thanks to Curiosity we now know that, at one point, there was water on Mars. We can see the shape of the long since evaporated water on the scarves. We can see waves on the landscape. With these waves we can imagine sound. What does it sound like on Mars?
Even today, Mars still has the power to fill me with questions and awe. I hope this collection inspires you to dream about about what Curiosity might bring us next, and to ponder your place in the universe.
