Moon Marks

Moon Marks is a proposed series of drawings on the moon.

Conceived as part of the Carnegie Mellon University Lunar X-Prize team, Moon Marks proposes using the rover tracks to draw on the Moon. One of the first activities that the rover might carry out on the Moon is a series of drawings to announce our arrival, and reflect on what it means to gaze back at Earth.

In the history of humankind, the desire to make marks, and tell a story through pictorial means, is fundamental. Ancient drawings on cave walls, made by artist over 50 millennia ago, serve as the earliest record of human culture. Just as the immortal boot-prints compacted by the first visitors to the Moon have outlived their makers, this series of lines, deliberately traced in the regolith, may last for many generations long after our civilization has faded away.

One drawing might be that of a large and venerable circle, among the most universal and broadly meaningful geometric figures in nature. On a large-scale, the circle circumscribes a space, implying the foundations of a dwelling, the perimeter of a sundial, or a portrait of Earth – the most prominent object on the lunar horizon. Smaller Moon drawings executed on the surface will be selected from among thousands submitted by children and adults, and narrowed down to the most popular using crowd-sourcing technologies allowing users to vote on their favorites.