Mars | astroart

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Mars

Moon to Mars When men visited the Moon in July 1969 the intention was to eventually go to Mars. This painting is symbolic of a spaceship passing the Moon and going to Mars, with the whole Milky Way galaxy beyond. Sadly, by 2019 humans had not even been back to the Moon. . .	Mars - Ancient & Modern This digital image was created for the cover of Astronomy Now magazine, but was later used for a book on the history of observing Mars.	Mars Porthole Not a scene which could be observed through a porthole in reality, but a symbolic view of Mars with its two moons, Photos and Deimos, with the blue star of Earth above. (Acrylics, from the private collection of Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest.
Tharsis A satellite's eye view of the 'Tharsis Bulge', a vast volcanic plateau near the equator in Mars’ western hemisphere. This region contains the largest volcanoes in the Solar System including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons. The tallest volcano on the planet, Olympus Mons, is located off the western edge of the plateau. Gouache.	Uranius & Ceraunius Tholus Near the northern Tharsis area of Mars, we look across the smaller Uranius Tholus to Ceraunius Tholus, which measures 68 x 56 miles (110 x 90km) across. (From The Fires Within) See also Volcanoes.	Mars in 1995! 'Mars in 1995!' This was the hopeful title given to my first cover for Analog, illustrating an article by Dr Bob Parkinson, in June 1981. The proposal used existing hardware, such as the NASA/ESA Spacelab for living quarters. On the surface can be seen Olympus Mons, the Solar System's biggest volcano. Gouache.
Mars Lander 78 This painting, produced for New Challenge of the Stars with Patrick Moore in 1978, shows a 70's NASA design for a Mars landing. In the original edition (1972) the sky was dark blue, but this was changed after the Viking landings in 1976.	Mars Rover A design of Mars-rover, similar to that used on the Moon but adapted to martian conditions and atmosphere. This was an interior illustration, in B&W, in the Analog for which 'Mars in 1995!' was the cover. (From Atlas of the Solar System, 1981)	Thingvellir Thingvellir is a fault valley or graben in Iceland, sketched here is pastels and pen in 1988. It is an analogue of similar features on Mars – see next image. .
Graben on Mars See previous image, Thingvellir. On his return from an IAAA workshop in 1988 Hardy converted his sketch into a painting of a fault valley on Mars. More details and an animated version of this painting may be found on the Tutorials page, or on Facebook here	Exploring Mars Astronauts from an advanced rover, which is also a mobile laboratory with grasping arms operated from within, search for signs of life, water, or useful minerals. From Futures.	Martian Canyon A canyon on Mars. This is a tributary to the main Valles Marineris system, here filled with early-morning fog, formed when water or CO2 which froze during the night is vaporised by the rising Sun. Ice crystals in the high cirrus clouds form 'sun-dogs' around the early-morning Sun. An unmanned airship makes a reconnaissance. From Futures.
Mars Lander with Module Based on the lander in Chris Riley's excellent 2004 BBC TV production, Space Odyssey. A base has been set up on Mars, with a pressurised living dome, and a ferry descends from orbit, landing on its tail like Apollo.	Mars Astronaut Part of the same series as the Mars Lander, here an astronaut leaves his pressurised rover to investigate an unusual rock formation. This is where humans excel – a robotic rover may have missed this! (NB: Hardy is able to 'customise' this series, with any combination of vehicles and figures.)	Mars Base Here the Mars Base has been expanded to include a different, larger lander and a greenhouse in which vegetables are grown hydroponically – also providing oxygen. A dirigible is also aloft, mapping and photographing the local terrain.
Dirigible over Mars In Kim Stanley Robinson's excellent Red Mars trilogy, a huge dirigible (a cross between a balloon and a microlight) is used to travel large distances over the dramatic terrain of Mars. (Cover for Interzone. From the private collection of Paul McAuley.)	Beagle 2 on Mars We lost contact with Britain's great hope, Beagle 2, on Christmas Day, 2003. But it must be down on the Isidis Planitia somewhere, and this is how it may look. Recently Beagle 2 was spotted from orbit, apparently intact. The next image shows a possible explanation for its silence. . .	Beagle 2 Pillinger The addition of a human figure shows just how small Beagle 2 really was. No doubt the late Professor Colin Pillinger would have loved to make this scene reality! (he and his wife Judith commissioned this painting)
Iceteroids for Mars One method that has been suggested for bringing more water to Mars in order to 'terraform' it is to bring in ice asteroids, or 'iceteroids' from the Belts between Mars and Jupiter; or even from Saturn's rings. Here we see several approaching; they would of course need to be carefully controlled and directed, so that they land in the right place!	Terraforming Mars One of mankind's most ambitious projects is to 'terraform' Mars – releasing its locked-up water and oxygen and making it habitable by humans. Several novels have been written around this theme, most notably Kim Stanley Robinson's excellent 'Red Mars' trilogy. This painting was used on the cover of Arthur C. Clarke's The Snows of Olympus (1994).	Terraformed Mars In 1994, just after Arthur C. Clarke asked David if he could use 'Terraforming Mars' on The Snows of Olympus, Carl Sagan also wanted to use it on his new book A Pale Blue Dot. Obviously this would not be a good idea, so David suggested this alternative version, in which Mars now has oceans – the Oceanus Borealis, which was used. Other Hardy paintings are inside.

Mars was named after the God of War, no doubt because of its red colour. Once thought to be an abode of life, with vegetation and 'canals, bringing water from its melting polar caps into its deserts, it is now known to possess only a very thin atmosphere, but a fascinating, changing landscape of meteoritic and massive volcanic craters – and signs of past water, and perhaps life?

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