At the European Space Agency’s ESTEC installation, Belbruno describes his unorthodox way to plot out unique trajectories through art. Image credit: Edward Belbruno
The heaven’s above is a tapestry of mystery and beauty.
For Ed Belbruno the universe around us is more than eye-catching. It’s a medium for infinite fine art, artistic renderings that can capture weak stability boundaries and how to use them for spacecraft missions to the Moon and beyond.
Belbruno is a visiting research collaborator in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University.
Showings of his art are being sponsored by the European Space Agency and have been displayed at several ESA installations.
Edward Belbruno’s Low Fuel Route to Moon artwork, chalk pastel on paper (1986). (Image credit: Edward Belbruno)
Ballistic capture via paint brush
“It is exciting that my pastel painting, ‘Low Fuel Route to the Moon’ (1986), is featured in the exhibition touring ESA,” Belbruno told Space.com. “This is because it actually gave rise to the first transfer to the Moon that arrives at the Moon in ballistic capture…that is, a spacecraft using this would be automatically captured into lunar orbit without any fuel,” he said.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Capturing the cosmos on canvas – Astrophysicist and artist Ed Belbruno explains how art helps scientists communicate their work to the public and even discover solutions to spaceflight and astronomy problems” – at:
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/capturing-the-cosmos-on-canvas-how-art-helps-scientists-and-space-agencies-communicate-with-the-public