Dust Storm on Mars

Artist's concept of the landing of the first human mission to Mars. In the foreground, astronauts conduct scientific observations, recording wind speed with an anemometer, and planetary features with a hand-held camera. A dust storm is approaching the cratered area near the landing site. The Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos are visible in the twilight sky. The Mars excursion vehicle in the background serves as crew quarters for the mission. An interplanetary transfer vehicle carried the crew to Mars, with the excursion vehicle launched independently to rendezvous with the transfer vehicle in orbit around Mars. The excursion vehicle will return the crew to the transfer vehicle, parked in Mars orbit, for the return trip to Earth. Crews on later missions will construct surface habitats using Martian materials.

The artwork was done for NASA, and the NASA Art Program, by Ren Wicks. This art concept has a copyright. NASA has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for governmental purposes. All other rights reserved by the copyright owner.