Immersive Encounters with Mars - (Leonardo) by Luci Eldridge (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A richly illustrated account of how contemporary rover images of Mars are transformed into immersive experiences.

How do we see and make sense of a planet we cannot touch? Immersive Encounters with Mars offers a vivid exploration of how contemporary rover images of Mars are made, interpreted, and transformed into experience. Drawing on firsthand accounts from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Airbus Defence and Space, Luci Eldridge unveils the scientific, imaginative, and intuitive practices behind the use of panoramas, 3D visualizations, color-balanced and false-color images, rover driving interfaces, and the simulated terrains of Mars Yards.

Interweaving art history, critical image theory, science and technology studies, philosophy, and glitch theory, the book argues that scientific imaging practices are deeply indebted to the long history of immersive art. The scientific examples in this book share with their art historical counterparts a reliance on imaginative projection: the ability to extend perception, inhabit images, and access what lies beyond immediate human experience.

Both analytical and speculative, this book invites readers to step imaginatively into an image of Mars.

About the Author

Luci Eldridge is an artist and Lecturer in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton), where she leads interdisciplinary education and research projects that engage critically with image practices across the arts and sciences. She codirects a research group exploring the implications of robotic seeing and sensing, and in 2024, coedited the book Robotic Vision and Virtual Interfacings. She is also Arts Editor for the Journal of Cultural Politics.