Analog Astronaut

Richelle Gribble, Analog Astronaut at Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), 2020

Richard Bright: Can you say something about your HI-SEAS, Sensoria Mission 2 project and your exploration of the role of arts and culture off planet?

Richelle Gribble: My journey to HI-SEAS served as an important next step to my multi-year artistic voyage called The Nomadic Artist Project. I traveled to artist residencies and space analog missions to invite global collaborations with artists and scientists worldwide via expeditionary research and site-specific art making. I ventured to unique and far-reaching places: atop glaciers near the North Pole, in a traditional Japanese paper mill in rural Japan, underwater and within the Amazon jungle, contained in the Biosphere 2 in Arizona, and inside a habitat in a simulated Mars mission with NASA Goddard.

The Nomadic Artist Project is intended to shift perspective about our home planet, providing new ways of envisioning our collective future — both on and off Earth. By exploring outer space, we can better locate ourselves within an interconnected system, which is crucial to inspire social and environmental responsibility. As I traveled to new locations, I translated each place in art to explore where humanity, technology and the environment collide. The artworks serve as a map of each place to better understand how it connects to the rest of the world.

I am now training to become a citizen astronaut and fly to space to experience the Overview Effect, a cognitive shift in perspective reported by astronauts when floating above Earth. From space, it becomes clear that Earth is an ever-evolving and interconnected living system. Since many of us cannot experience the Overview Effect first-hand, I want to translate the astronaut experience in art to transport others there, too. I already completed several steps of astronaut training in extreme environments and receiving certifications through analog space missions simulating life on the Moon and Mars. I am an applicant for several commercial spaceflights and advocate for more women in space.

With the HI-SEAS all-female crew, we worked together as a collaborative group of scientists and researchers to insure a safe and successful mission as we lived and worked enclosed in a habitat located approximately 8,200 feet above sea level in the Mars-like site along the Mauna Loa mountain range in Hawaii.

HI-SEAS Habitat, Jaden J. A. Hastings 2020

RB: What was your role in the project and your experience of it?

RG: I served as Vice Commander and Head of Creative Research for the Sensoria Mission 2, exploring the role of art and creativity off-world. This enabled me to fully immerse myself in an other-worldly place to reflect on Earth from a new vantage point and consider our interdependence at a greater distance. By moving off-planet, it shifts our relationship to everything around us, which heightens awareness and appreciation for Earth from space.

During the simulated space mission on Mars, I tackled several creative research topics, including:

how can I translate the astronaut experience in art; how does art change and evolve our evolution story as we move off-planet; what materials and methods are used to make site-specific artworks under new space-based conditions; what role does creativity play for improving crew dynamics; how do we experience the Overview Effect from Mars?

What I quickly learned is that everything changes in space. Enclosed in the habitat with five other crew mates, we have a strict schedule to ensure that habitat and life support systems are all running smoothly. As a crew, we track all habitat systems and engineering, manage inventory and water supply, lead daily medical checks and reports to Mission Control, cook with all dehydrated ingredients, map the Martian terrain and wear space suits after exiting the airlock of the habitat. On top of regular astronaut duties, we also make time for individual research projects.

HI-SEAS Sensoria Mission 2 during extravehicular activity (EVA), 2020

I developed a series of artworks during the mission, which evolved how art is made and where it is shared. Space requires use of light-weight, dehydrated, compact materials that do not deplete from life support systems nor extract from the Martian terrain. For this reason, I used all powder pigments, mixed colors with saliva instead of water supply, used 3D scanning devices and VR for art making, and had a portable light-weight projector for pop-up art exhibitions and scaled artworks. Each artwork developed related to our relationship to Mars and the ways it connected us back to Earth.

Artifacts: Mars Rocks, saliva, iron oxide sediment and spirulina on yupo, 2020

RB: What was the most challenging part of the project and the most surprising?

RG: Creating artworks in a spacesuit during an extravehicular activity (EVA) is quite difficult and requires practice and planning beforehand. Just like any spacewalk that’s occurred at the International Space Station or the Moon, it takes practice to learn to maneuver tactile functions in a spacesuit. It is more difficult to grip, carry, and document projects while also tracking oxygen systems, navigation and rough Martian terrain. It is all doable, but it simply requires patience and actions take twice as long to complete. This becomes more pressing as each EVA has a restricted time limit that correlates with air supply and weather conditions.

During EVA’s I completed several projects including projections onto cave walls, hiding time capsules for future generations, scanning and mapping terrain for virtual environments, site-specific installations and more. It is crucial to take proper documentation and mapping to locate where each artwork is based, which is an additional complication to site-specific artworks in uncharted territory.

Placing a time capsule containing Beyond Earth’s Space Art DNA capsule, 2020

RB: Can you say something about the trail of Eco-Footprints that you set up?

RG: One of the projects developed at HI-SEAS responds to our ecological impact as we move off-planet. I created a series of footprints made from materials that are extracted from Earth and pertain to excessive consumption. These prints are made of steel, copper, trash, circuit boards, plastic, styrofoam, grass and more leaving a path to symbolize human impact. On Earth, our ecological footprint is tremendous, noting that we need multiple Earth’s to match our consumption rate (energy, timber, settlement, etc.). I laid out a trail of footprints alluding to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first steps on the Moon to consider what trail we want to leave behind on Mars. Will it be a path that reflects exploitation and extraction, or one of exploration and leaving no trace?

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RB: From your experience with the project what do feel art can do for those involved in space exploration and settlement?

RG: As I experience simulated space environments, there is a heightened sensitivity to the sensations of a new place. This often leads to newfound discoveries, noticing what others may overlook and capturing what others may not see. Oftentimes, what’s overlooked is what needs our attention most. Each place also dictates the materials used, shifting how art is made and experienced, which has the potential to drive culture forward by engaging us in new ways.

Art can also aid us in thinking differently about how we pursue space exploration and settlement as it captures emotions, sensations and observations to provide new insights for future travelers. It can encapsulate the preciousness of a pristine environment and offer a vision for settlement that celebrates aspects of a place that need to be cherished and preserved. Just as plein air paintings and photographs of the American West aided protection of America’s National Parks, providing opportunities for pioneering artists to create spacefaring artworks offers a new lens for exploration before it happens.