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Asteroid Art Gallery: NASA To Open Art Gallery On The Asteroid Bennu

By Mohit Priyadarshi
Published on: 12:16 PST, Feb 21, 2016

Are you tired looking for a gallery space to exhibit your artwork? Well, now you have a chance to show off your work in an asteroid art gallery, thanks to NASA.

According to CNN, the space agency is inviting people to send their artworks to an asteroid on its new spacecraft: the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx. The mission, led by the University of Arizona, will also collect a sample of the asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth for study for the first time in history.

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in September and will travel to asteroid Bennu, reports the official University of Arizona website. Conceived in association with NASA, the mission invites the public to take part in this unique adventure by expressing, through art how the mission’s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives.

Ever since NASA opened entries for what will essentially be the first art gallery in space, space aficionados with a penchant of art have been sending their entries with the #WeTheExplorers hashtag on Twitter and other social media sites.

You can see some of the entries below.

Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, said the asteroid art gallery is a fantastic opportunity for artists to actually live their dreams of becoming immortal through art, as the artworks on display will not be prone to decay.

“Space exploration is an inherently creative activity. We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their artwork on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.”

The asteroid art gallery will showcase works across genres and forms, including sketches, photographs, graphics, poems, songs, short videos or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer.

Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA, reiterated that the idea to open an asteroid art gallery was conceived after scientists realized that their work to construct and test OSIRIS-REx during its development phase was nothing sort of a creative endeavor itself.

“The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September. It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire the public to express their creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space.”

Bennu, which was formerly known as Asteroid 2012 DA14, passed within Earth’s close proximity on February 15, 2013, according to NASA. The rock, which has a 538-yard (492-meter) diameter, passes close to Earth at an estimated interval of every six years, and scientists believe Bennu could even strike against our planet in 2182, the main reason that NASA wants to learn more about the asteroid.

Moreover, the asteroid is also rich in carbon and contains organic molecules and amino acids, and has a primitive composition similar to our solar system, according to the Space Reporter.

The last date for sending your artworks to the asteroid art gallery is March 20, and all the entries can be sent via Twitter and Instagram.

So what are you waiting for? Let space know what you think about it.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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