“Mission Psyche: Cartographer’s Map” shows the solar system through an old cartographic map. The sun is in the center, accompanied by a banner with the word “Sol.” Around the sun are the planets’ orbits. Each planet has a banner with its name. Near Earth, we see the Psyche spacecraft following a dotted line that leads around Mars and to the Asteroid Belt, the location of the Psyche Asteroid.

Mission Psyche: Cartographer’s Map

Samantha Manley

February 11th, 2026

Major: Illustration

Genre/Medium: Digital

About the Work: 

Just as ancient cartographers filled the uncharted edges of their seafaring maps with drawings of sea monsters and dragons, modern designers of vehicles traveling to other planets confront a legion of hazards, both imagined and real,” (How to Land on an Alien World, Lorenz). This one line inspired the idea behind my Psyche mission video game, a game that would combine fantasy cartographers with the science behind the Psyche mission. Aiming to combine STEM concepts with games to help educate a broader audience regarding NASA’s research. The game would have you play as a member of an astro-cartography team, whose recent mission is to map their journey to Psyche as well as the surface of the asteroid itself. Along the way, the player would learn about the mission through field studies as well as collectible research note pages. Read more…

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Date Added: 02-11-2026
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Samantha Manley - Psyche Inspired

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