“Space Sails” presented by Fisher

Symposium:

• SISEA: Second International Symposium on Electronic Art

• Facets of Electronic Art

• Space Sails

• Rob Fisher

Venue(s):

• Cultural Center de Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands

• The Columbus 500 Space Sail Cup. This imaginative project has as its goal launching into space in 1992 solar powered sails and an Americas Cup style, race to Mars orbit. International teams from the US, France, Canada, Italy, China, Japan and other nations are currently trying to raise money and public awareness in support of this visionary event. At an executive committee meeting of the Columbus 500 Space Sail Cup Commission Rob Fisher, Artist-in-Residence in Engineering at Penn State, proposed that his advanced computer graphics students produce, as Penn State’s contribution to the project, a promotional videotape that illustrates the program and the concept of solar sailing. Since part of the objective of the event is to stimulate an interest in space among young people, the commission gladly accepted the offer.

  Space Sail teams of scientists and engineers supplied data, sketches, computer studies and sometimes only written descriptions from which the students derived the illustrations of the sails. Under the direction of several skilled animators, six advanced students from fields of art, physics, English, video, and engineering merged their talents in the first major production from the Visual Engineering Lab at Penn State.

Category:

• Paper