Data + Design Project

Cosmic Creatures Formed From NASA’s Space Images

Wednesday 03.13.2013 , Posted by

1 Chris Keegan

Looking up at the sky and forming images from the stars has been going on for just about as long as human life has existed, but that was only what could be seen from the Earth. Digital illustrator Chris Keegan has taken constellations to a whole new level with the use of images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. He steps back from the images and tries to see what kind of creatures he can find, then digitally emphasizes those figures so that everyone can see them. The result is some highly unique creatures made up of celestial elements. In an interview with WIRED Keegan explained, “In one picture you can see thousands of stars and the idea of having a person or a bird taking up that sort of size was quite unusual.”
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: Art, Artist Spotlight, Digital Art
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One Hot Year: Visualizing US Fires in 2012

Thursday 12.13.2012 , Posted by

By just about any standard, 2012 was a massive year for U.S. wildfires. According to data from both the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) and NASA, over 9.1 million acres burned this year… and that was only tracking until November 30th. That figure places 2012 as the 3rd most wildfire filled year since 1960, and with the total number of fires being 55,505 – a relatively low number – the year holds the current record for the largest average fire size. [Read more...]

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: Data Visualization, Design, Maps, News, Visualization
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To Infinity and Beyond! Space Colony Art from the 1970s

Thursday 11.22.2012 , Posted by

It has been a long time dream of Earth dwellers to shake off our terrestrial bonds and move to far away places, like space for example. While today the world focus tends to be largely land based, in the 1970s we were in the midst of the Apollo space program, watching men walk on the moon; and gearing up for the Space Shuttle program. It was also a time when the sobering realities of our human impact were becoming obvious to the masses. We saw widespread industrial effects from pollution and an ever rising world population – one which was surprisingly only half of today’s staggering 7 billion. [Read more...]

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: Art, Illustration, Technology, Yesteryear
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Paint By Particle: A Beautiful Climate Model By NASA

Sunday 11.18.2012 , Posted by

With all of the satellites in our skies, NASA collects up to 30 million observations of the Earth each day. But it is only when these observations are layered into one picture, called climate modeling, that we get to see the wispy beauty of our atmosphere. The video below, titled Paint By Particle, was published by NASAexplore and allows us to “watch as dust and sea salt swirl inside cyclones, carbon bursts from fires, sulfate streams from volcanoes—and see how these aerosols paint the modeled world.” [Read more...]

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: Motion, Visualization
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Aldrin’s Earth-Mars Cycler In Lego Form

Saturday 11.17.2012 , Posted by

Buzz Aldrin has been working with engineers from Purdue University to transform his ideas for an Earth-Mars Cycler into reality. The astronaut predicts that by 2030 the first astronaut explorers will take missions to Mars lasting 5 years or longer to observe the planet, which would be followed by colonizers, permanent settlements, and eventually attempts to terraform the red planet and create a habitable Earth-like atmosphere. In 2005, Aldrin told Popular Mechanics, “The Cycler system alters the philosophy behind a Mars program. It makes possible the dream of regular flights to the Red Planet and a permanent human presence there. That’s the only way we’ll ever succeed in taking mankind’s next giant leap: a subway-in-the-sky between our planet and our future second home.” Lego aficionado Andrew Becraft has created his own rendition of the Aldrin Mars Cycler. See more at the BrothersBrick.com. [Read more...]

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: Technology
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Hanging Out on the Best Coast: “Space Coast”

Monday 10.22.2012 , Posted by

The Interest in space has been stirred up again by the Herculean accomplishment of the Red Bull Stratos team and Austrian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner — who became the first human to break the sound barrier during freefall. It’s been over a year since Atlantis blasted off for the last time to deliver parts and cargo to the International Space Station, and the suburban sprawl surrounding Cape Canaveral on the East coast of Florida — also known as the “Space Coast” — has lost what truly made it special: launching space shuttles into the unknown. [Read more...]

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Repurposing NASA by Matthew Spencer

Friday 08.31.2012 , Posted by

US space exploration is beginning to take on a different light and persona since its exceptional beginnings in 1958 – the ending of the NASA space shuttle program earlier this year; the exploration of space by manned space shuttles to be carried out by private companies; the landing of the new Curiosity Rover on Mars; and the death of the first astronaut to step foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Even though astronauts from around the globe will still congregate at the International Space Station while scientists scour the galaxies from Earth with powerful telescopes and images from far away satellites traveling beyond our solar system — things have still changed a lot in the continual exploration of the unknown. [Read more...]

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: Artist Spotlight, Design, Graphic Design, History, People
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Live Out Your Childhood Astronaut Dreams…Virtually

Friday 08.03.2012 , Posted by

Almost all kids go through a phase in life where they think they want to be an astronaut when they grow up. What could be more amazing than riding on a rocket ship to outer space? Now you can walk in the shoes of an astronaut in virtual visits to Kennedy Space Center. NASA and Google Street View have collaborated, offering 6,000 panoramic views of the facilities, including the space shuttle launch pad, Vehicle Assembly Building, and Launch Firing Room #4. With this virtual tour, you can get up close and personal with the engine that has the power to generate 400,000lbs of thrust and see Space Shuttle Orbiters—the Atlantis and Endeavour from any angle you choose. You may not be able to taste the freeze dried ice cream from the gift shop, but this is an awesome project for space lovers and astronaut-wannabes of all ages! [Read more...]

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End of a Legacy: Space Shuttle’s Last Flight

Thursday 07.07.2011 , Posted by

Since 1981 the Space Shuttle has been rocketing astronauts and important scientific projects out of the Earths atmosphere and into weightless space. Tomorrow at 11:26 a.m. EDT, the Shuttle Atlantis makes the 135th and final Space Shuttle flight, delivering a resupply to the International Space Station and ending the now 30 year old Shuttle program. To comemorate the launch we bring you a fun infographic about the sheer size of the behemoth orbiter vehicle and the distances it has traveled. [Read more...]

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: Graphic Design, Infographics, News
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Interactive: 30 Years of the Space Shuttle

Tuesday 07.05.2011 , Posted by

After an honorable 30 years of exploration and innovation, the space shuttle program is sadly rolling to a close. With a program ending final launch by the shuttle Atlantis just days away, The New York Times has put together an information rich, interactive infographic detailing the history of each and every one of the 135 missions made by the behemoth spacecraft. Bid the program a fond farewell by taking a closer look on nytimes.com, then catch the final launch on July 8th at NASA.gov. [Read more...]

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