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fut/TtnLdr_v_bw_o_TPMBK (unnumbered, ca. 1976, JPL photo no. P-16927 eq)

"Saturn has a remarkable earth-like moon named Titan, which has a heavy atmosphere. Scientists would like to land a Viking-type package there in the late 1980s."

 

A really neat, dynamic, chaotic & sort of distressed depiction by JPL artist Ken Hodges...so another WIN

 

Possibly/apparently part of JPL’s “Purple Pigeon” effort.

 

Epilog:

 

Pathetically, as has been the case with many other formerly semi-useful & moderately informative NASA sites, particularly those that hosted imagery/photos, JPL historians/archivists have quaffed the Koolaid as well.

The following is what's still available, as of 21 March 2024 at the following site, which is "No Longer Maintained". Of course, no longer with an image that was a probable companion to mine:

 

www.jpl.nasa.gov/blog/tag/ken-hodges/

 

“Titan Saturn Mission Artwork, 1976

By Julie Cooper

 

In the 1970s and 80s, before advanced computer graphics, artist Ken Hodges was hired by JPL to create paintings that depicted many different missions – some in the planning stages and some only imagined.

 

Bruce Murray became JPL's Director in 1976, and he advocated new missions (Purple Pigeons) that would have enough pizzazz to attract public and scientific support. Hodges painted many of the Purple Pigeon images, including this scene of a Saturn orbiter with a lander going to the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan. This artwork was done almost 30 years before Cassini's Huygens Probe reached the surface of Titan. Cassini was launched in 1997 and spent seven years traveling to Saturn. The probe was released in December 2004, and landed on Titan on January 14, 2005.

 

For more information about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives for assistance. [Archival and other sources: P-numbered photo albums and indexes, Cassini and Huygens web pages.]

 

Julie Cooper

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Cooper, Certified Archivist

 

Julie Cooper is a certified archivist who identifies and processes collections for the JPL Archives, and helps researchers find information about the history of JPL.”

 

Buh-bye. Ain't that right NAssA...and now, JPL "historians" & "archivists"?

Sad, disappointing & pathetic...as is the norm.

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Uploaded on March 29, 2020