You may remember a time not so long ago when landing on the moon seemed far-fetched; a Mars mission an impossible dream. Space travel has captivated the imaginations of people worldwide long before Neil Armstrong took his one giant leap for mankind.<\/p>\n
But far from being just the stuff of novels, television programs, or full-length feature films, space travel (and those crazy enough to believe it possible) has led to some of the greatest discoveries of our time. Think back to November when NASA discovered where Mars\u2019 water went<\/a>. Not to mention all of the cool inventions you use every day that are the result of space programs like NASA:<\/p>\n Freeze dried food, Insulation, Invisible braces, LED (Light emitting diodes), Memory foam<\/a>, Prosthetic limbs, Super Soakers, Water filters, Workout machines, .just to name a few!<\/p>\n Now, NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL<\/a>) has us imagining travel to a distant planet or far-off world yet again, and this time there are freebies in it for you! Who doesn\u2019t love a little swag? Especially when it comes from the folks in charge of one of the world\u2019s leading space programs.<\/p>\n Engineers and scientists from JPL teamed up with designers to create a series of posters, which you can download for free from JPL\u2019s website. The aptly named \u201cVisions of the Future<\/a>\u201d advertise travel to 13 alien worlds in a style reminiscent of retro movie posters. From the icy depths of Europa, one of Jupiter\u2019s many moons, to the scorching heat of two suns on exoplanet Kepler-16b, you can see it all.<\/p>\n And if you share my insatiable curiosity for such details as \u201cWhat went into these designs?\u201d then you are in luck my friend. The man and artist behind Jupiter\u2019s poster shared the process on his blog<\/a>. Stefan Bucher, who goes by the name 344, experimented with a variety of font styles including a 60s inspired vibe before ultimately settling on a design \u201creminiscent of early London Underground lithographs,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s cool to see a glimpse \u201cbehind the curtain\u201d into the though process behind such creative and inspiring pieces such as this.<\/p>\n You may wonder how this ties into CAD, aside from the design aspect of course. JPL has a longstanding history with Siemens PLM Software, particularly when it comes to using NX for design and verification of its spacecraft. NX was used in the creation of the Mars rovers Curiosity<\/a> and more recently MAVEN<\/a>, for example. I\u2019m sure that when the day comes when travel to the 13 worlds depicted in Visions of the Future is a reality, CAD will have played a major role in getting us there.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n