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Planetary Atlas Collection: A Kickstarter Campaign that Promotes Space Exploration for Everyone by Rachel Montgomery ![]() ![]()
Kirkland WA (SPX) May 19, 2021
Related LinksOn the topic of space travel, one of humanity's greatest visionary thinkers and theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking said, "Humans are an adventurous species. We like to explore and are inspired by journeys to the unknown. Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion. Exploration by real people inspires us." Recent years have validated the adventurous nature of species with an upward trend in volume, variety and velocity of information dedicated to our future in space. The question is, where does information end up and how can we use it to inspire everyday people? A newly launched Kickstarter Campaign seeks to drive an increase in space exploration enthusiasm among non-experts and experts alike with their Planetary Atlas Collection of Earth's Moon, Mercury, and Mars. The team behind this project, brothers Eian Ray and Tyler Ray started their planetary mapping company, RedMapper, to create virtual and in-person tools committed to bringing beauty, romance, and passion to planetary mapping. Growing up in a rural, secluded area, the Ray Brothers used maps as portals to other worlds. Later, Eian dedicated his life and career to harnessing the power of maps to explore further than he ever imagined from the far reaches of the northern Canadian ice roads, to the depths of Lake Crescent and eventually the surface of Mars. In 2016, Eian participated in the International Cartographic Association competition to map potential Mars landing sites for NASA. He found the data sets that existed were not easily accessible to non-experts. While anyone can download the data, non-experts would not easily know how to use and interpret that data into something meaningful, let alone beautiful. People need to know what places look like in order to imagine themselves there. To achieve this, RedMapper combined modern mapping technology with emerging data to create easy and intuitive to use products modeled after traditional Earth atlases. The newly launched campaign has already reached its target audience. Fellow space enthusiasts within 4 hours pledged past the Kickstarter's target goal with 34 more days still to go. These adventures or journeys into the unknown make us proud to be human, epitomize our capacity to cooperate and give us permission to dream again. Whether you're off-the-grid in rural Washington, in urban Berlin or sailing the Atlantic, RedMapper gives you to tools to explore our inner solar system - I encourage you to allow your hearts to follow. It's true, this is space exploration for everyone. Space travel begins as an adventure, and could become the future of our species. Follow the Campaign here BIO: Rachel Montgomery is a Humanist Geographer, specializing in the intersection between people and place. She is dedicated to advocating on behalf of frontier and rural geographies for equal access to resources and services.
RedMapper Planetary Atlas Collection All about the technology of space and more
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