Psyche Inspired: Lachan Morlan

Smiling person with long blonde hair wearing a cream blazer and gold necklace against a beige background

Institution: University of Arkansas / Northwest Arkansas Community College
Major: Physics, Astronomy Concentration
Psyche Inspired Class: 2025-2026

Reflections on Psyche Inspired

Reflections on Project 1: Metal in the Dark

This artwork shows asteroid Psyche, built from stained glass. Shades of grey and white form its metallic surface, glowing slightly like metal catching light. Small uneven black shapes are scattered across it to represent impact craters. The piece is bordered by dark glass, suggesting deep space. Lines between glass segments show solder seams, reflecting a handcrafted, structured world.

Metal in the Dark

Lachan Morlan

December 17th, 2025
Major: Physics (Astronomy)
Genre/Medium: Stained Glass
About the work:

Metal in the Dark is inspired by NASA’s mission to Psyche, a rare M-type asteroid believed to contain exceptionally high amounts of metal. Scientists hypothesize that Psyche may be the exposed metallic core of an early planetesimal, a building block of a planet that lost its outer rock layers during ancient collisions. Studying Psyche could offer a first-ever look at planetary core material, something unreachable on Earth.

The glass formation depicts the asteroid Psyche as it may appear in space, a metal-rich body composed primarily of iron and nickel. The grey and white opalescent glass represents Psyche’s metallic surface, reflecting the way iron-rich material interacts with both light and radar. The black glass embedded across the surface represents hypothesized impact craters, the scars of ancient collisions that shaped the asteroid and may have exposed the metal beneath. This piece was created using traditional stained-glass techniques. Each segment was hand-cut, ground, wrapped in copper foil, and soldered together. I combined opalescent and opaque glass to create contrast and dimension, echoing the difference between reflective metal and the void of space.

Project Details: Metal in the Dark

Reflections on Project 2: The Spaces Between

A stained glass artwork depicts asteroid 16 Psyche within the main asteroid belt. The solder lines represent heliocentric distance measured in astronomical units. Horizontal solder lines near the dark asteroid encode its rotational direction and extreme 98-degree axial tilt, showing Psyche rotating nearly on its side.

The Spaces Between

Lachan Morlan

February 4th, 2026
Major: Physics (Astronomy)
Genre/Medium: Stained Glass
About the work:

The Spaces Between is a stained glass interpretation of the asteroid 16 Psyche, located within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Rather than depicting Psyche as a literal object in space, this work focuses on the often-overlooked elements that define it: distance, motion, orientation, and the space that holds them all.

The composition centers Psyche as a dark, metallic form suspended within layered fields of glass. Each solder line radiating across the panel represents measured heliocentric distance, expressed in astronomical units (AU). Where these lines intersect the asteroid, they mark Psyche’s position within the solar system, its relationship to the Sun and to neighboring planetary bodies. Distance, often reduced to numerical values, becomes a visible and structural element of the artwork. Read more…

Project Details: The Spaces Between

Reflections on Project 3: Borrowed Gravity

A circular stained-glass panel shows the Psyche spacecraft passing close to Mars. The planet glows in layered reds, oranges, and golds, while the spacecraft appears in lighter metallic tones against dark space. The warm colors surround the craft briefly, suggesting a close flyby before it continues into the darkness beyond.

Borrowed Gravity

LACHAN MORLAN

March 25th, 2026

Major: Physics (Astronomy)

Genre/Medium: Stained Glass

About the Work:

In May 2026, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will fly past Mars, not to study it, and not to stay, but to use its gravity. This maneuver, called a gravity assist, allows the spacecraft to change its speed and direction without using additional fuel. For a brief moment, Mars becomes part of the spacecraft’s propulsion system, lending momentum to help Psyche continue its journey toward the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.

Borrowed Gravity captures that fleeting encounter. The spacecraft is shown crossing the field of Mars, close enough to be transformed by its pull yet never captured by it. The red and gold glass represents the intense reflected sunlight of the Martian environment, contrasting the darker stillness of deep space beyond the flyby. The spacecraft passes through this warmth and energy only once, altering its trajectory for years to come. Read more…

Project Details: Borrowed Gravity

Reflections on Project 4: The Pursuit of Psyche

A stained glass artwork shows Earth on one side in bright blues and greens and the asteroid Psyche on the other in dark tones. Between them, two human hands reach toward each other but do not touch, inspired by Michelangelo. Light passes through the glass, highlighting a divide between the known and the unknown.

The Pursuit of Psyche

LACHAN MORLAN

Major: Astronomy (Physics)

Genre/Medium: Stained Glass

About the Work: 

The Pursuit of Psyche is a stained glass piece that honors the scientists and engineers behind NASA’s Psyche mission, those who dedicate their lives to understanding what lies beyond our reach. Inspired by Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, this work reimagines the iconic reaching hands as a dialogue between Earth and the asteroid Psyche.

At its center, two hands extend across a fractured boundary, one emerging from Earth, the other from Psyche. Earth is depicted with vibrant blues and greens, representing life, knowledge, and humanity’s point of origin. In contrast, Psyche is rendered in shadow and deep tones, symbolizing the unknown and the mysteries of a metallic world never before explored. Suspended between them, the hands reach but do not touch, capturing the tension between what we know and what we strive to understand. Read more…

Project Details: The Pursuit of Psyche

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