When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.An artistic representation of NASA’s planned Moon Base. | Credit: NASAGOLDEN, Colorado — The moon is in need of good and accurate artists!As NASA’s Artemis program hits its stride, and in a few years “reboots” our moon with a human presence, there’s an urgent need to guard against artistic misrepresentations of the lunar landscape, experts say.We’ve all seen those alluring lunar renderings of vehicles and astronauts bounding about while setting up equipment and putting in place a moon base.What’s wrong with this picture? Missing in this artwork are small craters, dust, dirty equipment and dirty astronauts. | Credit: NASAReality versus depictions”We are telling the public the moon is easy — it is not!”AdvertisementAdvertisementThat’s the matter-of-fact warning from Daniel Britt, the Pegasus Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida. He’s also the director of the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science.Britt spoke about and showcased artists’ misconceptions during a “reality versus depictions of the lunar surface” talk here at a Space Resources Roundtable, held from June 2 to June 5 on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines.”I wish I could say that engineers and managers know better, but they don’t. We are training a generation of engineers to not worry about terrain. If the artists are getting it wrong, it is our fault. Let’s stop fooling ourselves,” Britt said.Well versed in what the lunar surface truly offers, Britt scolded a number of arty accounts of lunar territory promulgated by both NASA and commercial space ventures. He spotlighted what’s wrong with those pictures — for starters, small craters and ever-present lunar dust, along with dirty astronauts, dirty equipment and dirty habitats.Dusting off past moonwalker experiences reveals a dusty future on the moon. | Credit: NASA/Daniel BrittFacts of lifeA flat, dustless moon is not the one we are sending Artemis astronauts to, said Britt. Crews will experience coarse terrain, pervasive dust, and a surface unlike anything here on Earth. These are the facts of life on the moon, he said.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Apollo moon-landing missions learned this first hand. But those astronauts explored equatorial areas. The Artemis program is targeting the lunar south polar region, which will be tough to deal with thanks to the low angle of the sun.”When you look into the sun, it will be blasting into your face. But at least you’ll see the shadow of that crater you are about to trip into,” said Britt. “But looking down-sun, you won’t see diddly squat.””There’s need to stop deluding ourselves,” Britt told Space.com, advocating the creation of a 1-to-10 scoring system for lunar art, with prizes for the worst and best visualizations”What I want to do is land on the moon way safer and easier,” he added, “so you need to ask yourself what’s missing from these depictions. We are training the public to think this is easy.”No dust, almost no small craters, no tipping problems. | Credit: SpaceXFalse impressionTo support his concern, Britt spotlighted both Apollo moonwalker-taken imagery and the scenery as projected by artists, be it using paint brush or artificial intelligence-guided computer work.AdvertisementAdvertisement”The sun angle washes out the rough terrain. Almost all the pictures taken from the surface give the very false impression of a flat, gentle terrain,” Britt said. “The reality is that the lunar surface is heavily cratered, rough, very dusty and covered in regolith.”Most Apollo surface images were taken “down-sun” because looking “up-sun” was hard. “This leaves a very false impression of a flat moon with gentle terrain,” Britt said.Why should we care about artist’s misconceptions? Because they create false impressions that lunar landings are easier than they actually are. | Credit: Blue OriginTilt problemsApollo was pretty lucky, Britt said, observing that several of the six human moon landings experienced tilt problems. For instance, Apollo 14 experienced a 7-degree tilt on landing, and Apollo 15 had an 11-degree tilt on touchdow …
