Psyche Inspired: Isabella Garcia

The Pieces of Psyche

Isabella Garcia

This work, “The Pieces of Psyche,” is a digital poster that illustrates the key instruments that will be used to scan the Psyche asteroid. These include the magnetometer, multispectral imager, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. While there are other instruments on the craft, these three are the main ones that will be used to analyze the asteroid. The three figures surround the main craft and are illustrated at the same size as the craft in order to visualize everything better. Each part has a short and clear description of what it is made to do when it reaches its destination and the information it will gather from the asteroid. They are also labeled as to where on the craft they are located.

The purpose of this is to be an entry-way to the Psyche mission for those who just want a quick introduction to the project. Since many NASA and JPL missions have a lot of information to learn about, I wanted to make a poster that condenses the data in order for an audience to be intrigued rather than overwhelmed. I feel that there are two purposes to this piece: One is to introduce the mission so that an individual will be excited to research more about Psyche. The other is if someone only wants a quick overview of a portion of what the Psyche mission is about. As someone who lives at the intersection between the art and science worlds, I have seen both sides of the spectrum stray away from each other when they do not see an overlap between their studies. I want to use this project as a building block for understanding scientific topics in a visual form.

Project Details: The Pieces of Psyche

POssibilities

Isabella Garcia

This project, “Possibilities,” is a digital painting made to depict different ideas as to what the Psyche asteroid may look like. Since we have not yet reached the asteroid and therefore do not have any pictures of it, we can only speculate what it may be. I chose to do this project because I also felt that it demonstrated the creative minds of scientists. When speaking to scientists and reading articles about the mission, it was interesting to see how the asteroid was described. While they were, of course, using technical terms, I was also inspired by how much beauty they found in wondering what the final destination may look like. I felt a connection to that imagination and wanted to portray that in my project. The four asteroids are illustrated in a “rough” or “sketchy” style for the purpose of demonstrating the fact that these are only ideas and not set in stone. From left to right, they show an asteroid with very little metal on the surface, one that is covered in large patches of metal, another that is solely covered in bedrock, and a fourth that is covered entirely with regolith (small grains of soil, not on Earth). While these are just speculations, I wanted to bring to life the most prominent ideas that scientists have regarding the image of the Psyche Asteroid.

Project Details: POssibilities