Sometime soon, Humans will reach out to study first hand the asteroids that occupy our solar system. Many such bodies have orbits that bring them close to planet Earth and sometimes even impact Earth. The larger of these affect life on the entire planet as the dinosaurs discovered 65 million years ago when an object about 5 to 10 kilometers in diameter struck Earth, causing a mass extinction event that killed more than 90% of the occupants of our planet at the time and causing the extinction of more than 65% of the species that lived on Earth at the time.

In this painting, I imagine what a visit to an asteroid might look like as astronauts in a Dragon 2 spacecraft fly beyond the Moon to intercept such an object. The asteroid could be grabbed and brought into Earth orbit, perhaps to a new mining facility where its resources could be mined for use in building hardware for humans to live and work in space. Why lift the resources off of Earth when you can have them already there in space where you want to use them to build spacecraft and other infrastructure to head for the other planets and beyond.

The painting was completed on February 12, 2017. It is a 16 by 20 inch acrylic on canvas.

Last update: February 20, 2017