Mars as Art

NASA just released a collection of cool pictures of Mars. As described by my NASA friend on facebook:


July 20, 2006 -- On the 30th anniversary of the Viking spacecraft landing on Mars, NASA unveiled the “Mars As Art” exhibit at the U.S. Capitol. Spacecraft have imaged the surface of Mars for four decades, providing insights into the history, climate and geology of our nearest neighbor. These images are actual photos of Mars, taken f...rom orbit and from the surface by spacecraft that have visited there.

This collection showcases images of Mars that have been selected exclusively for their aesthetic rather than scientific value. Setting aside our usual scientific filters, we tried to look at each picture with the eyes of an artist and find those special images that best show the stark beauty of our nearest planetary neighbor.

To create this collection, we reviewed over 100,000 images – every image returned from Mars by U.S., Russian, and European spacecraft up to that point in time. Five thousand of those images were nominated by planetary scientists, and down-selected to a set of 300. From there, a panel of renowned professional artists, photographers, and photo editors reduced the collection to the final set of 45. Every successful Mars mission since Viking is represented in this collection.

("Mars As Art" Volume 2 is currently in development - one of several projects we are working in "with time available" mode, as we review the additional 250,000+ images that have been received from Mars since Volume 1 was developed)