Video Visions of the Future

  • Released Tuesday, October 19, 2021
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Inspired by the "Visions of the Future" poster series created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, this inspirational video imagines a time when space tourists flock to the Moon, vacation in the clouds of Venus, kayak on Saturn’s moon Titan, and visit planets beyond our solar system.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Music: "Life Choices" from Universal Production Music

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

At NASA, our mission is to explore. We visit destinations in our solar system and study worlds beyond to better understand big questions. How did we get here? Where are we headed? Are we alone?

While our robotic explorers have toured our solar system, the only place beyond Earth where humans have stood is the Moon. That’s also the next place we’ll send astronauts. But not the last! While humans haven’t yet visited Mars, we’re planning to add boot prints to the rover tire tracks there now.

We also dream of traveling to distant worlds, and what they might be like. This video shows fanciful, imagined adventures to real places we’ve studied. Inspired by a series of travel posters produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, NASA Goddard video maven Chris Smith employed green screens and computer graphics to bring these scenes to life.

Side-by-side views of the original JPL travel posters and their animated versions.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Music: "Luminance" from Universal Production Music

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

Behind the scenes views of models shot in the studio and the final effect in the video.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Music: "Downloading Landscapes" from Universal Production Music

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

Comparison of the original green screen footage and the final effect.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Comparison of the original green screen footage and the final effect.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Comparison of the original green screen footage and the final effect.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

A fictional spacecraft approaches the Moon, which is peppered with lights from settlements on the surface.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

A fictional spacecraft approaches the Moon, which is peppered with lights from settlements on the surface.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

A parent and child watch from their home on Mars as a rocket lifts off in the distance in this illustration.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

A parent and child watch from their home on Mars as a rocket lifts off in the distance in this illustration.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

Toursists take in the view from a fictional observatory floating among the clouds of Venus. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Toursists take in the view from a fictional observatory floating among the clouds of Venus.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

A small, fictional spacecraft approaches Enceladus from afar as passengers watch geysers erupt.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

A small, fictional spacecraft approaches Enceladus from afar as passengers watch geysers erupt.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

This illustration shows a space kayaker paddling in the oceans of Saturn's moon Titan.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

This illustration shows a space kayaker paddling in the oceans of Saturn's moon Titan.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

A thrill seeker skydives in the atmosphere of HD 40307 g, an exoplanet with 7.1 times Earth's mass, in this illustration. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-CaltechOriginal poster

A thrill seeker skydives in the atmosphere of HD 40307 g, an exoplanet with 7.1 times Earth's mass, in this illustration.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Original poster

Suspended by balloons and protected by a clear bubble, tourists observe the seething surface of "lava world" 55 Cancri e in this illustration.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-CaltechOriginal Poster

Suspended by balloons and protected by a clear bubble, tourists observe the seething surface of "lava world" 55 Cancri e in this illustration.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) and NASA/JPL-Caltech

Original Poster

A fictional spacecraft passes by exoplanet GJ 367 d, a world that could potentially hold liquid water on its surface.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

A fictional spacecraft passes by exoplanet GJ 367 d, a world that could potentially hold liquid water on its surface.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

For More Information

See https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/visions-of-the-future

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

This page was originally published on Tuesday, October 19, 2021.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:43 PM EDT.

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series: