The inspiration for this blog originated from my long-ago-active participation in a YayHooray forum. I managed three distinct threads there, each dedicated to current missions to Mars, Saturn, and a compilation of other space-related articles of interest. It was the YayHooray community that suggested I create my own dedicated blog for this content rather than just maintaining a few threads on the forum.
The central theme of this blog revolves around space, particularly places within space that one might theoretically visit someday. Therefore, it predominantly focuses on terrestrial locations or places that could potentially support such environments. These featured locales often possess surfaces where one could walk or at least attach themselves to. Some of these sites exhibit earth-like features such as atmospheres, weather patterns, volcanoes, geysers, and, interestingly, even exotic oceans, rivers, or lakes composed of materials different from what we are accustomed to on Earth.
The second prominent theme of this blog is imagery. I aim to ensure that almost every post is accompanied by relevant visuals. I believe that imagery is of paramount importance to the general public's engagement with space exploration. Images have the power to inspire and cultivate support for the idea of exploring these extraordinary worlds. Often, images released to the public are in false color, which can be misleading, or they make people skeptical of the authenticity of the images from these missions. Therefore, I strive to present images that provide a more accurate representation of these places, sometimes even adjusting for true colors or correcting issues like incomplete or black and white images. In instances where I need to retouch images, I make a point to clarify what changes were made, why they were necessary, and occasionally how they were executed. This way, there should be no confusion regarding the authenticity of the visuals.
To be clear, the altered images featured in this blog may not precisely represent what was happening at the moment the spacecraft captured the photo. However, they aim to depict scenarios that could plausibly occur in the history of these celestial bodies. The primary objective here is to showcase the beauty of real locations within our cosmic neighborhood, rather than provide images for scientific analysis.
I must emphasize that I do not claim full credit for any images used in this forum. These images are the result of the incredible work conducted by engineers and scientists who manage these missions. Furthermore, I have a deep appreciation for the work of freelance researchers who take spacecraft data and enhance it to yield improved results. When I engage in such work (and its been a long time since I did), it's at a much more limited scale, and I view myself as a designer who relishes the final result images and enjoys working with them. That's the extent of my involvement.