Malmo's Museum

Artblog of @supermalmoworld. Specluative evolution, creature sculpture, fan art, diorama, and whatever else catches my interest.

[supermalmoart]

Departments of the Odyssey Program often get their own mission patches made. The Biosafety & Containment department was in charge of developing the barrier suit, a field capable hazmat suit designed to withstand the wear and tear of repeated outdoor use. They also developed procedures for decontaminating anything going inside or outside, using educated guesswork to determine the best way to disinfect alien materials.

[supermalmoart]

When I asked Jo why she wanted to take me to the museum, she said she wanted to know me better. Why she needed a museum when I was right there was a question only I could answer.

[supermalmoart]

The star walrus model exists! It's about a foot long in real life.

[supermalmoart]

When I asked Jo why she wanted to take me to the museum, she said she wanted to know me better. Why she needed a museum when I was right there was a question only I could answer.

[supermalmoart]

With seven crewmates to train, the shuttle simulator is always booked. Pilots and engineers get priority. For the geologists, a conference room will have to do.

[supermalmoart]

Let's go fishing. It'll be fun.

Catch!

A botany podcast I listen to holds a book club and this month they happened to chose the next book on my to-read list, Annihilation by Jeff

[supermalmoart]

Annihilation

[supermalmoart]

Suntenna

Although yellow in color, the suntenna has features associated with black plants, particularly the hairlike microphyll leaves that interlock the way feathers do. The suntenna looks like a retrofuturistic spire crossed with a horsetail. Rings of descending size radiate from the stalk with the shadows cast by the top rings never overlapping the leafed portion of the lower rings. The plant seems to go out of its way to avoid casting a shadow on itself, while other plants utilize wind motion and darker pigment to make use of shaded foliage.

The leaves of black plants are filamentous and served by a single loop of vasculature. These are called microphyll leaves and are found on Earth in lycophytes, some ferns, and some gymnosperms, though their veins do not loop. Black plant leaves have barbules like those on a feather that can interlock with neighboring leaves and even neighboring fronds. They can assemble into structures resembling a complex leaf or hang independently like plume feathers. They can even form down for insulation in cold enviroments or for sun protection in exposed regions.

Suntennas usually angle themselves toward the sun and this is especially apparent in areas far from the substellar point. Plants growing near Ilion's terminator angle themselves to an extreme and have specialized structures for growing sideways.

Feather interlocking requires constant maintenence. Plants reproduce with haploid mobile offspring but these offspring can also be created as a worker caste. The mobiles of black plants are especially polymorphic. Males are adapted for flight or ballooning (in the case of suntennas and their relatives, by parachutes made of parental feathers), while females stay on the parent plant and are dispersed by animals. The workers of suntennas are about the size of grain mites and have claws specialized for parasite removal and feather preening.

[supermalmoart]

The suntenna is my favorite alien plant. I wanted to call it “plantenna” but Alex refused to use that name in the official report so I offered this name instead. The suntenna can grow to twice the height of a person or one and a half times the height of Alex. When I get home I will use my interest money to buy a real house and commission a sculptor to make me a suntenna garden out of shaped metal. I will hang birdfeeders off their limbs so they can enjoy the company of creatures that have golden feathers just like theirs.

[supermalmoart]

[supermalmoart]

Suntenna

Although yellow in color, the suntenna has features associated with black plants, particularly the hairlike microphyll leaves that interlock the way feathers do. The suntenna looks like a retrofuturistic spire crossed with a horsetail. Rings of descending size radiate from the stalk with the shadows cast by the top rings never overlapping the leafed portion of the lower rings. The plant seems to go out of its way to avoid casting a shadow on itself, while other plants utilize wind motion and darker pigment to make use of shaded foliage.

The leaves of black plants are filamentous and served by a single loop of vasculature. These are called microphyll leaves and are found on Earth in lycophytes, some ferns, and some gymnosperms, though their veins do not loop. Black plant leaves have barbules like those on a feather that can interlock with neighboring leaves and even neighboring fronds. They can assemble into structures resembling a complex leaf or hang independently like plume feathers. They can even form down for insulation in cold enviroments or for sun protection in exposed regions.

Suntennas usually angle themselves toward the sun and this is especially apparent in areas far from the substellar point. Plants growing near Ilion's terminator angle themselves to an extreme and have specialized structures for growing sideways.

Feather interlocking requires constant maintenence. Plants reproduce with haploid mobile offspring but these offspring can also be created as a worker caste. The mobiles of black plants are especially polymorphic. Males are adapted for flight or ballooning (in the case of suntennas and their relatives, by parachutes made of parental feathers), while females stay on the parent plant and are dispersed by animals. The workers of suntennas are about the size of grain mites and have claws specialized for parasite removal and feather preening.

[supermalmoart]

The suntenna is my favorite alien plant. I wanted to call it “plantenna” but Alex refused to use that name in the official report so I offered this name instead. The suntenna can grow to twice the height of a person or one and a half times the height of Alex. When I get home I will use my interest money to buy a real house and commission a sculptor to make me a suntenna garden out of shaped metal. I will hang birdfeeders off their limbs so they can enjoy the company of creatures that have golden feathers just like theirs.

[supermalmoart]

This used to be the world’s deepest astronaut training pool. We purchased the launchpad, rocket and all, from a defunct aerospace company, another casualty of the satellite internet bubble.

It was so deep we had to make decompression stops to surface without getting the bends.

We don’t fill it with water anymore for reasons that should be obvious. But the mockup Odyssey parts inside are still useable. Good luck!

[supermalmoart]

Centauropod

[supermalmoart]

That's a great question. Consider:

[supermalmoart]

Centauropod

[supermalmoart]

Lord deliver me from structures and machines

[supermalmoart]

[supermalmoart]

Lord deliver me from structures and machines

[supermalmoart]

Training Montage: Doing it Scared

Everyone knows astronauts have to go through extensive training before they go to space, but do we know what that entails? Luckily for us, N

[supermalmoart]

"Seems like Ilion left an impression on both of us."

[supermalmoart]

at some point you have to swallow your fear and start inking the faces

[supermalmoart]

doing it scared

[supermalmoart]

Alex gets the Ilion tattoo so I don't have to

[supermalmoart]

"Seems like Ilion left an impression on both of us."

[supermalmoart]

at some point you have to swallow your fear and start inking the faces

[supermalmoart]

doing it scared

[supermalmoart]

Alex gets the Ilion tattoo so I don't have to