At first glance, the poster may seem a bit chaotic abstract. But looking closer, different motives, references and stories begin to emerge. Just below the middle of the poster you can see a blue color and two drops. These, of course, represent the underground glaciers - and in the background is seen a black silhouette of the highest volcano yet discovered in our solar system, Olympus Mons. The volcano measures 25 km in height and 600 km in diameter. Perhaps most whimsically, the illustration of the Curiosity rover on the left of the poster - between the wheels is its track, which is actually the Morse code for the JPL. JPL stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is the poster behind the posters. The text on the poster, "visit the historic sites" and "robotic pioneers / arts & culture / architecture & agriculture" point to the idea behind the poster. You are supposed to imagine that people have inhabited Mars for a long time. Therefore, the first discoveries on Mars have gained historical and cultural significance and value. Mars has simply gone and has become a travel destination, to which people go for walks to see ancient architecture, robots and art. Thus, the poster's own idea is also linked to the larger idea behind the entire NASA poster series: Use your imagination and imagine how humanity will be able to travel and live in space in the future. Both colors, patterns and shapes are inspired by the 60s, which results in this incredibly delicious retro design. At the same time, it also leads thoughts and feelings back to a time when you really dare believe that humanity could travel into space - or at least to the moon. For NASA, it's about inspiring people to let go of their imagination. One should not just imagine traveling into space - one has to imagine how we could live out there, what life and history we could build. That the likelihood that Mars will ever actually become habitable is not so much in that context. The designers behind the poster are Don and Ryan Clark. The two men are brothers and together they have founded Invisible Creatures, through which they have made illustrations, etc. for a large number of large companies. The two gentlemen have always been fond of imaginative and spacy designs and motives - which is also clearly seen in this poster. A little fun fact is that although this poster is No. 2 in the series of NASA posters, it is actually the last poster that was designed.
