Immersive Encounters with Mars: Science, Art, and Imagination in Rover Images

A richly illustrated account of how contemporary rover images of Mars are transformed into immersive experiences.

How do we see and make sense of a planet we cannot touch? Immersive Encounters with Mars offers a vivid exploration of how contemporary rover images of Mars are made, interpreted, and transformed into experience. Drawing on firsthand accounts from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Airbus Defence and Space, Luci Eldridge unveils the scientific, imaginative, and intuitive practices behind the use of panoramas, 3D visualizations, color-balanced and false-color images, rover driving interfaces, and the simulated terrains of Mars Yards.

Interweaving art history, critical image theory, science and technology studies, philosophy, and glitch theory, the book argues that scientific imaging practices are deeply indebted to the long history of immersive art. The scientific examples in this book share with their art historical counterparts a reliance on imaginative projection: the ability to extend perception, inhabit images, and access what lies beyond immediate human experience.

Both analytical and speculative, this book invites readers to step imaginatively into an image of Mars.