Photos of Mars commissioned by NASA

The stunning images from NASA’s Curiosity Rover have been swirling around the web like wild fire. Sadly, most of the attention was given to “mohawk guy” and his stupid hair tattoos but hey, if that’s what it takes to get people to pay attention to science then so be it.

Within minutes of receiving the first images from the rover, memes from the imagination of the internet spawned mostly ridiculous depictions of what we believe and/or hope is chillin’ on the red planet.

Collaborative artist team, Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick took a slightly different approach when NASA commissioned them to create what you might call the official memes of Mars.

It seemed like all the future was about space travel and then it sort of petered off, so we have these kinds of longings of the future … the great age of space travel, so we’re kind of keeping these longings out there for other people who it might seem exciting to again.

In the Selesnick/Khan version of the exploration of Mars, we see optimism in a bizarre and desolate landscape. Life, death, and discovery are themes that seem to resonate throughout project.

I think Earth wouldn’t be on its path toward destruction if it was run by women, so we decided to give mars a little hope by sending two women up who wouldn’t necessarily see conquering and seizing all of its minerals as a main thing and that a new birth for this dying planet would be two women and their child that is seemingly conceived without a male involved. It gave it a utopian aspect amidst the gloom of the post-colonial sad ruined-empire quality that we gave it – so it was kind of a sweet counterbalance.

Have a gander at these awe-inspiring images and tell me again how your smart phone sucks dick.

Enjoy.