“Mission: Psyche Character Designs” shows 3 crew members for a Psyche-inspired video game. One being the Pilot, holding her helmet. She has black hair and a necklace of the Psyche logo. Another character is the Systems Engineer. A man with black hair, writing in a book. He has a satchel with the logo. The last character is the Flight Surgeon. A broad man with blonde hair, briefcase in hand.
“Mission: Psyche Character Designs” shows 3 crew members for a Psyche-inspired video game. One being the Pilot, holding her helmet. She has black hair and a necklace of the Psyche logo. Another character is the Systems Engineer. A man with black hair, writing in a book. He has a satchel with the logo. The last character is the Flight Surgeon. A broad man with blonde hair, briefcase in hand.
“Mission: Psyche Character Designs” shows 3 crew members for a Psyche-inspired video game. One being the Pilot, holding her helmet. She has black hair and a necklace of the Psyche logo. Another character is the Systems Engineer. A man with black hair, writing in a book. He has a satchel with the logo. The last character is the Flight Surgeon. A broad man with blonde hair, briefcase in hand.

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Mission Psyche: Character Designs

Samantha Manley

January 7th, 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 for my Psyche mission video game, which would combine fantasy cartographers with the science behind the Psyche mission. Aiming to integrate 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 the player would learn about the mission through field studies as well as collectible research note pages.

Starting with the “Mission Psyche: Character Designs” for my first project, I did three members of the cartography team: the pilot, who is our leader of the crew, the systems engineer, and the flight surgeon. All based on real positions, but reapplied to a more fictional setting. They each wear the Psyche logo proudly; in this case, it is also the logo of our cartography crew. Their uniforms are unique to the individual, but all are with the Psyche mission’s color scheme. Towards the bottom is a turnaround of our characters, as well as notes written down regarding certain attributes these roles require. While some of the notes in the journal are fictionalized, they are rooted in the truths of these roles.

On the desk are additional research logs our cartography crew has yet to put away. Upon closer examination, one could see that the Psyche reports are mostly factual in nature, for example, the mention of the magnetometer and the multispectral imager. Other details give insight into the universe our game takes place in, where space cartographers are common, as well as a universe where human travel to the Psyche asteroid is possible.

Overall, my goal for this project series is to create a game concept that delivers information regarding the Psyche information through the lens of ancient cartographers. It would deal with themes of exploration and wonder, while still delivering STEM topics in a more easily consumable way.

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Date Added: 01-07-2026
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Samantha Manley - Psyche Inspired

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