Brushing up on the Red Planet with Chesley Bonestell By Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. Producer/Writer/Director
Image: Courtesy NASA
In just a few days, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars. The mission will include the search for signs of ancient life, experiment with converting Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide into oxygen and even gathering rock and soil samples to be retrieved on a future Mars mission. This impressively ambitious rover also carries a little helicopter by the name of “Ingenuity.” Sometime after touching down in Jezero Crater, the rover will deploy Ingenuity to attempt the first powered test flight on another world. Read on to learn about another special passenger who’s also on board.
Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986)
Mars was a source of continuing fascination for artist Chesley Bonestell. Long before there were deep space telescopes, space probes, landers or rovers, the Red Planet was the subject of over 100 paintings created by him during his lifetime, most of them used to illustrate books and magazines.
Mars as Seen from Deimos by Chesley Bonestell (1948)
This article features a sample of Chesley Bonestell’s most fascinating Martian paintings. There are also links to short videos taken from my film Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future and from a few Bonus Features that are found only on the Blu-ray edition of this award-winning documentary.
The Surface of Mars (1949)
Over seventy years ago, when “The Surface of Mars” was painted, the notion that Mars was crisscrossed with water canals was widely accepted by many scientists. In this painting, Chesley contemplated what explorers might see if they were standing on the thin snowdrifts of the Martian polar cap looking toward the setting sun. For more about water on Mars, watch an excerpt from the film that features astronomer Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz at this link http://bit.ly/3tGQfKn .
Martian Landscape (1969)
Painted seven years before NASA’s Viking 1 Lander touched down on Mars in 1976, Chesley envisioned two phenomena of the Martian surface and included them in this painting titled “Martian Landscape”…and, lo and behold, there they were! See if you can identify them in the above picture and then learn the answers in a special video from our Bonus Features that is hosted by NASA’s Brian Day at this link: http://bit.ly/3tBGtZF .
As detailed in the book, The Exploration of Mars, written by rocket scientists Willy Ley and Wernher von Braun and dazzlingly illustrated by Chesley Bonestell, missions to Mars were being planned as early as 1956.
“Chesley often provided detailed descriptions of his paintings,” reports Co-Producer Melvin Schuetz, author of A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology. “The illustration appears both on the front dust jacket cover and on the page opposite the title page with the caption: ‘The Mars expedition, 8600 miles from its goal. The ships are approaching tail first.’” The Exploration of Mars had a huge impact on many people and among them was Palos Verdes rocket engineer Rocco Lardiere. Watch a special video where Rocco recounts how this book and Chesley’s art changed his life when he was just eleven years old at this link http://bit.ly/3q10d6U
Landing on Mars (1956)
Chesley, using the designs of rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, envisioned a horizontal landing on the sandy surface of Mars. This vehicle would then be separated into a rocket that would be launched vertically for the return trip to Earth, as depicted in the painting below.
Exploring Mars (1953
“Chesley didn’t leave out Martian atmospheric conditions when he painted Mars,” explains space artist and the film’s other Co-Producer Ron Miller, author of The Art of Chesley Bonestell. “Since the 1800’s, earth-bound telescopes could detect what appeared to be storms on the Martian surface. ‘A Dust Storm on Mars’ is Chesley’s 1956 painted vision of what visiting astronauts would surely face at some point during their mission.”
A Dust Storm on Mars (1956)
The Perseverance Rover, like its four predecessor rovers, (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity) will use a parachute during final descent to the Martian surface.
Cargo Ferry Landing on Mars (1963)
Chesley also saw parachutes being used to bring in supplies to the Red Planet when he painted this scene below almost 60 years ago.
Twelve Miles above Mars (1972)
Chesley passed away in 1986. His painting, “Twelve Miles above Mars,” was one of his last to feature the Red Planet. For his contributions that helped inspire the exploration of space, NASA posthumously named a crater on Mars after him in 1997.
Courtesy NASA
So who is the special passenger headed for Mars?
Chesley Bonestell has actually been “on board” the Perseverance Rover ever since liftoff six months ago. Thanks to an opportunity provided by NASA, our Associate Producer Christopher Darryn was able to sign Chesley up on the manifest and a “Boarding Pass” was issued. Mounted inside Perseverance are three fingernail-sized silicon wafers. Etched on the wafers are the names of 10,932,295 people who responded to NASA’s “Send Your Name to Mars” campaign. If you happen to be one of them, you might be “sitting” next to the Father of Space Art.
The three chips on board the Perseverance Rover
We all can be proud of the extraordinary accomplishments of the many successful missions that JPL and NASA have sent to Mars. I'd like to add some thanks, too, for the chance to have Chesley Bonestell, the “Father of Space Art,” visit the planet that intrigued him so much!
Other short videos on Mars that you may want to watch from
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future and its Bonus Features:
Conquest of Space
Space Artists Don Davis and David Aguilar discuss Chesley’s involvement with this 1955 science-fiction film at this link http://bit.ly/3ruBTuE
“A Fog-Filled Canal on Mars”
Co-Producer and Author Melvin Schuetz talks about a wonderful painting left to him by Chesley’s widow, Hulda Bonestell, at this link http://bit.ly/2LtVtYw
See the entire film!
Want to know where you can experience this award-winning film on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD or Streaming? Just click this link https://bit.ly/BuyorStreamChesley or visit the film’s website at www.chesleybonestell.com.
Selected Chesley Bonestell paintings courtesy of Bonestell LLC
Bio-
Producer/Writer/Director Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. has lived in Rancho Palos Verdes for over 20 years. He began his career in the Entertainment Industry after graduating from the USC School of Cinema with a degree in Cinematography. Since then,, he’s received eight Emmy Nominations for his work on numerous television specials including The Academy Awards. He produced documentaries on the history of the Directors Guild of America (50 Years of Action! ) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (The ASCAP Story). In addition, he chronicled the life of President William Jefferson Clinton for a celebration of the President’s 50th birthday. Douglass’s latest film is the award-winning Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future, the first-ever documentary on the life and works of artist Chesley Bonestell.