Martian Summer

Peter Smith, P.I.

The subject of the story is a Martian photographer.

“Don’t call me that,” Peter Smith, the world’s greatest Martian Photographer says dryly. “It really diminishes the science.” This is a story about the world’s greatest Mars picture-taker and his robot, Phoenix. “And don’t make me look like some wacko mad scientist,” Peter says. He has a hard enough time with the mission’s image as it is. Peter is particular about the mission’s image because he knows how getting it right has the potential to inspire children and adults alike. More than half his team is here because they grew up watching Apollo and Viking missions.

“What’s going to inspire the next generation?” he wants to know. We’re sitting in the back yard of Peter’s Tucson home. We’re getting off on the wrong foot and I can’t stop imagining Peter working in his Martian photo studio posing little aliens on the Red Planet. Stupid, I know.

read more

download huge poster