" There were those who

d r e a m e d . . .

and those who

built upon dreams. . .

. . . some to see

some to touch . . .

. . . imagination captured. "

Mars Direct-A History,

Volume 1, Preface,

©CI.XXVII Planet.IV,

Sol System

"Like an aircraft moving down a runway, western civilization used the freedom afforded by the open frontier to accelerate itself to takeoff speed. The end of the runway has now been reached. If our journey is to continue, we must now take courage and fly."

"Without the opening of a new frontier on Mars, continued Western civilization faces the risk of technological stagnation. To some this may appear to be an outrageous statement, as the present age is frequently cited as one of technological wonders. In fact, however, the rate of progress within our society has been decreasing, and at an alarming rate."		These four quotes are from a very compelling article by Dr. Robert Zubrin: The Significance of the Martian Frontier

"The Red Planet may appear at first glance to be a desert, but beneath its sands are oceans of water in the form of permafrost, enough in fact, if it were melted and Mars' terrain were smoothed out, to cover the entire planet with an ocean several hundred meters deep."

"We still possess the greatest gift of the inheritance of a 400-year long Renaissance: To wit, the capacity to initiate another by opening the Martian frontier. If we fail to do so, our culture will not have that capacity long. Mars is harsh. Its settlers will need not only technology, but the scientific outlook, creativity and free-thinking individualistic inventiveness that stand behind it. Mars will not allow itself to be settled by people from a static society -- those people won't have what it takes. We still do. Mars today waits for the children of the old frontier, but Mars will not wait forever."

Thank you Dr. Robert Zubrin, author of the book, The Case for Mars, and Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars sagas, for inspiring me to explore Mars through my art.

The majority of these pieces were created using Mars' terrain elevation data provided by NASA. Thank you Jennifer R. Ash-Poole, curator of the National Space Science Data Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD .

"Now What?..." is done with a terrain of my own creation. The remaining art is created using the provided Mars' terrain elevation data to depict what we might see from these various vantage points on Mars.

I have tried to give some sense of scale by including you or me in some of the art. ( some are obvious, some will take a little searching to find--where's Waldo comes to mind)

But even this attempt seems inadequate when you fully realize the vastness of the Martian landscape. For instance, Valles Marineris whose main canyon is 125 miles (200 km) wide at its widest, and 4.3 miles (7 km) deep, compared with 18.6 miles (30 km) and 1.2 miles (2 km) for Earth's Grand Canyon.

Note: For the other information gatherers out there, Mars artwork areographical location information can be seen on the various data pages linked to each artwork page. (This may be information overkill, but I couldn't help myself.)

Additionally, here is a site that will give you information, including historical references to Mars, previous Mars mission information, tools to analyze Mars, current Mars news, and much more on exploring Mars: The Center for Mars Exploration

And the site that is Mars Direct: Headquarters for the Mars Direct Manned Mars Mission.

And finally, The Case for Mars, site of the International Conference for the Exploration and Colonization of Mars. The original driving force responsible for bringing together the pioneers who initiated the ideas making it possible for us to explore and settle this new west -- the Mars frontier.

Support a Manned Mission to Mars! With current technology we can explore Mars firsthand. Read this to see why it is imperative that we support the exploration and settlement of this world and discover what you can do to help.

The new Collaborative Project West to Mars site is up and running! "Journey through the possibilities!" 220,960 accesses February 16, 1997 through October 27, 1997!

Now Available: West to Mars - the Poster "The graphic... is one of the nicest I have yet to see on any space-related website. It says it all." Keith Cowing-Reston Communications

MarsExpress the Poster 50K gif

First Air with Sunset, Hellas Planitia 24k jpg

Now What? circa 101.27 P.IV. 24k jpg

Morning Light at Station AG 113047 39k jpg

Early Morning Overflight 30k jpg

Chasma View 39k jpg

Chasma View 2 34k jpg

Chasma Landing 36k jpg

Chasma Mist 37k jpg

Chasma View 3 43k jpg

Crater Irresistible 35k jpg

Dust View Southwest 36k jpg

Storm's Over 24k jpg

avantspace	explorers	impressions	marsdirect	marsdirect 2	memory	planet builders
planet x	scapes	stonecolors	stonegrays	surreal	surreal II	West to Mars

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© 1996 /1997 /1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001/2007 electricOlive Studio / kenny fair