Reimagining Lunar Trailblazer’s Science Objectives
16 September 2024
For any NASA mission, scientists will develop a set of objectives, providing precise and measurable goals to guide the mission’s design and focus scientific inquiry. These science objectives are also important in communicating to a wider
audience what a mission like Lunar Trailblazer will accomplish. This summer, Pasadena City College science communication intern Isabelle Adamczewski developed a set of infographics for each of Lunar Trailblazer’s four science objectives.
How does one design and visualize accurate and easy-to-understand representations of a mission’s science objectives? “My process started with research” recounts Adamczewski. As a biochemistry student with experience in illustration and
translating science into accessible language, Adamczewski was well-equipped to take on this challenging task.
Adamczewski was particularly interested in how the science objectives outline Lunar Trailblazer’s mission to better understand the lunar water cycle. “It’s not like it is on the
Earth,” explains Adamczewski. “The Moon basically has no atmosphere.” This means that water on the Moon does not exist in clouds or precipitate out of the sky, to collect on the surface in rivers and oceans. Instead, different processes
govern how water moves across the lunar surface. Lunar Trailblazer’s science objectives provide guidelines describing the kinds of measurements and targets needed to uncover the story of lunar water.
A significant challenge for Adamczewski was figuring out how to depict the kind of derived information Lunar Trailblazer will collect–before the satellite has even launched for the Moon. To solve this problem, Adamczewski combined her skills
in illustration, previously-developed graphics created for Lunar Trailblazer by past interns, and
existing data from prior science instruments studying the Moon. Armed with these skills and assets, Adamczewski designed figures that help visualize the phenomena that each science objective interrogates. “It was so cool to see my ideas come
to life with data and satellite images from previous missions,” says Adamczewski. “I’m excited to see what Lunar Trailblazer gives us when it gets to the Moon!”
The complete set of Adamczewski’s infographics can be found on the Lunar Trailblazer website on the Science Objectives webpage.
By Jasper Miura
Jasper Kenzo Miura is a graphic designer and Mission Research and Communication Specialist for Lunar Trailblazer at Caltech.