#graffitionmars

Mars is emotional.

Our Morphological Analysis went in so many directions yet all collectively worked together somehow. We talked love, life, art, economy, space travel, sci-fi and so much more. So much of this touched on fear and the unknown. We collectively agreed on our X-axis and from there we allowed each other to decide on the Y-axis because we wanted some wiggle room in our research. In compiling our sources, we used  sites like NASA, of course. But some surprising sources I looked at were sites like Wired, Forbes, and a ton of sci-fi blogs. Most importantly maybe, I was inspired to watch films and listen to music. I watched The Martian, The Space Between Us and added a few others to my list.

This all led me to my major discovery: Mars is emotional. Going into this topic I thought it would be science heavy but I leaned into the fears, the ideals and the symbolism of life on Mars. Most music dedicated to Mars (or space in general) is emotional; a lot of depression like in Kid Cudi’s “Man on the Moon”. There is also this constant belief that the ideal love can only take place among the stars. In David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” the lyrics are filled with surreal Dalí-esque images while telling the story of an emotional girl with the desire to escape the restrictions of real life… is it possible Mars offers her that freedom? Does Mars offer us all that freedom? 

Group Brainstorm + Debriefing //

With a clear new problem definition, it became easier to brainstorm. We have one problem we’re dealing with and it’s that no team team structure is capable yet to successfully perform a mission to Mars. This brings up individual attributes, who will be the punching bag? This brings up group dynamics, is there a leader? And it also brings up the elements, what does the team need to live in space for about three years?

We used a Google Doc to spout out all our ideas in a list, watching each other type frantically. We then organized our favorites from each brainstorm into a spread sheet, aligning the ideas with the questions they answer. But for those of us who missed a “pop-up” meeting, the mind map helped the most. Alex and I sat together in person (in silence, briefly) making sure we understood the way our brainstorms went via mind map and pieced together some of the groups ideas.

Prior to our group meeting, we narrowed down our interest in Mars to people and rights. Our definitions relating to people all overlapped (Jas, Dave, Alex) and our definitions related to rights overlapped as well (Lauren, Arie).

Lauren

“People think if we fuck up here on Earth we can always go to Mars or the stars. It’s pernicious.” Because what we see is filtered by “space authorities” or subject to artistic license when depicting the planet and it’s inhabitants, our perception is skewed.

There are Space treaties, principles and conferences dedicated to best practice in exploring space; there is no best practice law for depicting space. We assume artistic license is a right we have in depicting Mars, but is that denying rights from the Martians we’re portraying? Space Law

Jasmine

People would find difficulty living with each other in a small isolated area on Mars because individuals would be chosen based on individual qualities and not on group dynamics. (human)

Few have the right to travel to Mars because of the expense and limitations on who can make the decision. (technology/travel/economy/class)

Arie

The current vision of colonizing Mars feels very much like a disposable earth philosophy. Are we simply using Mars to escape our mistakes? How do we make sure that we protect Mars and navigate the various competing interests?

Alex

Unlike Earth, societal norms will be quickly informed by the chosen first inhabitants of Mars.

Due to lack of nutritious soil, the food industry and culture on Mars will be dramatically different than what it's future inhabitants are used to. - hierarchy of needs

Dave

How and why we choose who will to go to Mars will define both the near-term success, and lay the foundation for long-term habitation of the red planet.

Lauren and Arie both defined the problem of us seeing Earth as disposable and Mars is a “safety net” we see in the media. In searching for a solution, we’d look into potential laws that need to be made in how we spread knowledge and how we depict life on Mars.

The group decided to tackle the interpersonal qualities we need in sending a successful team to Mars. In talking out these problem statements we went back and forth on whether the problem is for the trip to Mars (so a confined, 2 year minimum journey) or if it’s populating Mars (who goes first to create a successful Martian colony). We discussed the history of space journeys being white males with skills to last in an isolated journey, but moving forward to Mars it would need to be a collaborative team and what does this team look like?

Problem Definition // selection and dynamics of people going to Mars

Journal #4 : Solo // Definition

...featuring Frank Ocean’s inspiration.

1. “People think if we fuck up here on Earth we can always go to Mars or the stars. It’s pernicious.” Because what we see is filtered by “space authorities” or subject to artistic license when depicting the planet and it’s inhabitants, our perception is skewed.

2. There are Space treaties, principles and conferences dedicated to best practice in exploring space; there is no best practice law for depicting space. We assume artistic license is a right we have in depicting Mars, but is that denying rights from the Martians we’re portraying? Space Law

My two definitions were definitely absorbed in the rights aspect of Mars, what rights do we have when general “space rights” are so vague already? In researching how we filter information given to us by space authorities and how as a society we fill in those gaps with media, it’s caused this irrational safety net of space as an easy alternative for when we deplete Earth.

In our team meeting, we narrowed our list of over 60 topics, down to three. Mars, graffiti, and the music industry were our favorites. Collectively we gravitated towards Mars (pun intended), but were drawn to all three possibilities. As we research, we will start with where Mars intersects with the other two verticals. If we find alignment and inspiration we will continue down that path and if we do not, then we will pivot towards the strongest case. We feel as though this topic is the perfect balance of problem and opportunity, as well as a big unknown for all of our team members. Our team agreed that we are capable of utilizing each other’s skills and contributions to the group. We’re all capable of communicating where we might fall short and need help.

Jasmine

Interests: I personally gravitated to Mars because of the abstractness of the possibilities. As science fiction writer Tom Chiang said, "Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know." Taking on a topic like this will either be hugely rewarding to think big and bold or incredibly challenging to take on something so removed from the here and now.

Expertise/contributions: I am knowledgeable in the area of science fiction media and technology. I’m a good researcher and presentation maker, and I promise to make deadlines.

Alex

Interests: I’m completely unbiased regarding our topic because I know very little about it, so the research phase will be really fun for me. I think there is an interesting intersect between the topics of Mars and Graffiti that I’d like to really dive into. I am personally interested sociology and cultural norms of a new society on Mars.

Expertise/contributions: I’m good at organizing group thoughts and ideas. I’m a visual thinker with a design background that I feel can help with constructing team deliverables.

Dave

Interests: I’m excited for the topic - Mars has tons of history spanning back to ancient times and is now back in view thanks to the latest rocket technology and renewed interest in exploring our solar system. My 3 year old son loves watching video of the SpaceX rocket launches, and it’s exciting to see Blue Origin, SpaceX, and other companies compete in a new era space race.  

Expertise / Contributions: As part of the team, I can help with idea generation, technology, prototyping, research, and presentations. I’m an an avid science fiction fan, so I’m excited to explore the broad topic and dive into something specific. Even this last week I was reading about the Opportunity rover that’s still exploring Mars - even though it has lasted 14 years longer than the engineers expected it to. It will be interesting to see how our group drives towards a more specific problem, given the broad starting point, but I think we’ve already shown our ability to collaborate, communicate, and keep working towards our goals.

Arie

Interests: I’m excited to learn more about Mars and the broader implications of potentially starting another society. There are all sorts of societal and cultural concerns to take into account aside from the host of technological and safety-related issues. I think it is an interesting proxy to explore societal dynamics in the absence of certain elements and institutions, and could be viewed as an opportunity to study the formation and evolution of human society.

Expertise/contributions: As far as contributions, I am interested in the topic so I can help with creating ideas as well as exploring alternative angles to others’ ideas. I also have experience in project management, design, and writing, so I can help with various aspects of the project.

Lauren

Interests: As for my capabilities regarding the topic of Mars, I know very little however, and plan to make the most in our next research phase.

ACCEPTANCE

My goodness, we did it! We’re moving to MARS! Just kidding, we probably won’t get into that issue in the next 6 weeks. We’re going to successfully educate the World about some aspect of Mars, whether it’s something physical we tackle, or a social hypothetical, the goal has been achieved. The reward in this is learning something new, learning that there are planets other than ours that might have some answers or even some problems we don’t see here. What does Mars know that we don’t? (biomimicry, anyone?).

I hope successfully completing this project speaks to my professional ability to work with people across many different disciplines. I want to succeed for myself, to prove to myself I can continue to work in environments like this and continue to grow.

Working with a new team is always beneficial in some way. Whether working together comes easy or you have to work at it, I always find I learn something new either in the process, the people or in the subject matter.

Our decision is to investigate Mars; I am not as big a sci-fi fan as some others in our group which I think is cool. It’ll bring different perspectives to the table and everyone will take this topic and research in different directions. With Mars being so unknown, the possibilities are endless. Do we want to look into what hypothetically could go wrong if we colonized Mars? Do we want to look into how Mars inspires us? Will Mars face the same social issues the World does?