Do you love making art and using your imagination? So do we! Every NASA mission starts with a creative idea about how to explore something in a new way.
The art challenge:
In this new activity, we'd like to challenge young explorers to think about and draw a space-related situation each month. And after the month is over, we'll select a few imaginative drawings to be featured on the NASA Space Place website!
So, get ready to exercise that creative brain of yours! Here's what you'll need:
- Paper
- Art supplies (pencils, markers, crayons, paints – whatever you like to use)
- A grownup helper with a camera or scanner and access to email
Note: We cannot accept artwork created with AI technologies.
Space Place Art Challenge prompt:
Our home planet is constantly changing. Sometimes those changes are small. Other times they are large and very noticeable. A new satellite is going to help scientists keep track of changes—big and small—on Earth’s land and ice over time.
The satellite is called NISAR, which is short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar*. The information it collects will help us better understand the science behind natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. It will also observe changes in ecosystems, ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice.
NISAR is set to launch from India in April 2025.
NISAR will help scientists better understand how Earth’s surface changes over time, including changes before volcanic eruptions like this one at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki—a volcano on the Indonesian island of Flores—in November 2024. Image captured by the Landsat 9 satellite. Credit: NASA
This month’s prompt: NISAR orbits Earth, observing and tracking changes on Earth’s land and ice surfaces. Draw a before and after image of a change you’ve observed on Earth. For example, maybe you’ll draw a field of snow in wintertime, and then the same field with flowers in spring. Or maybe you’ll draw a tree in your backyard, then the same tree after it lost a few branches in a storm.
Get creative and submit your art before April 30, 2025. Selected art submissions will appear on the website in early May!
*NISAR is a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
How to submit your art:
Once you've gotten your ideas on the page, have a grownup take a photo or scan of the drawing and email the following to NASAKidsArt@jpl.nasa.gov:
- Picture of drawing
- First name of artist
- Age of artist
- Completed release form (download here)*
That's it! Have fun creating and we can't wait to see your drawings!
Last Month's Art Challenge Selections
Draw what you’re looking forward to seeing in the night sky this month, or any time in 2025!
A'Rehya, 8
Allisson, 13
Antonella, 9
Elise, 4
Elsie, 10
Esdras, 16
Hayden, 8
Henrik, 8
Huckleberry, 11
Joshua, 12
Maddy, 9
Naisha, 8
Nataliya, 12
Paxton, 9
Ryan, 4
Saanvi, 9
Samuel, 9
Stella, 12
Sumedh, 9
Zahra, 13
* AUTHORIZATION AND RELEASE FOR PHOTOS, AUDIO AND/OR VIDEO RECORDINGS OF, AND/OR ARTWORK FROM A MINOR CHILD
I hereby grant to the California Institute of Technology (Institute) and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) the right to make, use, create derivative works and/or display:
- photos, video and/or audio tape recordings of, my Child and/or
- artwork (in any media, including drawings, photos, music and video creations) created by my Child and submitted to JPL and/or
in any manner or form, and for any lawful purpose at any time. I also grant the Institute to use my Child's name associated with such photos, recordings of my Child or with his/her artwork. I understand that my Child may be photographed and/or video or audio taped verbatim and that the Institute may allow persons external to the Institute to view the pictures or recordings in part or in their entirety. I also understand that any artwork submitted by my Child to the Institute for the Project may be edited, reproduced or displayed publicly at the Institute's discretion. I am fully aware and agree that such use of my Child's image or artwork and name may include posting on publicly available internet sites, including JPL sites and other publicly viewable social media sites. I waive any right that I may have to review or approve of any finished products, or the uses to which such products may be applied. I release and discharge the Institute, its employees, sponsors, and subcontractors from any liability to me by virtue of any representation that may occur in the creation, editing or use of said photos and/or video or audio tape recordings or the editing or use of my Child's artwork.
