Collaboration between Artist, Axiom Space Hits Key Milestone
Collaboration between Artist, Axiom Space Hits Key Milestone
Satoshi Takamatsu Represents Art Collective 'WE'
A significant step forward in a collaboration between artist and photographer Satoshi Takamatsu, representing art collective “WE,” and Axiom Space has hit a key milestone. The two parties signed an agreement to reserve a seat for Takamatsu on a future long-duration human spaceflight mission.
"People's minds change when they look back at this planet from space.”
Satoshi Takamatsu, WE
The reservation came with a personal deposit and a commitment from Takamatsu to raise the additional funds needed to secure his seat with commercial support from key industry partners. As part of the agreement, Takamatsu plans to focus his contributions to the mission on the arts – photography to be exact.
"The progress made by photography, videography, and Virtual Reality (VR) technology makes it possible to replicate reality,” said Takamatsu. “It is now possible to shoot and reproduce imagery with standards that go beyond the limitations of the human eye. In this mission, I envision shooting the Earth in three different ways – 300 megapixels for still photography, 24K for videography, and 360 VR videography for HMD beyond 60PPD. In addition, these images could be upscaled to super-resolution using AI-based technology.
"Besides resolution,” he added, “we also need to look at dynamic range, frame rate, color range, and depth to recreate an amount of visual data that is as close to reality as possible."
Takamatsu’s reservation not only signifies a potential shift from STEM- to STEAM-focused on-orbit missions but also how private astronauts can shed new light on the world from space with a sharper focus and a different perspective.
"People's minds change when they look back at this planet from space,” explained Takamatsu. “They look beyond nationality, ethnicity, or religion. They intuit the importance of sustainability and hope for peace on Earth. This phenomenon is called the ‘Overview Effect.’ Out of the millions of photographs and videos taken of Earth from Space, none of them have truly been able to replicate this ‘Overview Effect,’ as there has never been a mission designed with that objective in mind. This is the gift I wish to give to humanity."
Tejpaul Bhatia, Axiom Space Chief Revenue Officer, offered that Axiom Space is looking forward to working with Satoshi on a future mission. He said, “With this agreement as the initial foundation, we will work together to build a comprehensive mission plan that supports an imagery-centered commercial astronaut effort on orbit for the benefit of all.”