By Sharon McFarlane
Senior Advancement Communications Officer
In February 2020, as the world watched the Mars rover Perseverance make its historic descent upon the Red Planet, Mark Hilverda, BSc ’97 (Earth Sciences), BA ’09 (Classics) and his family watched with a heightened sense of apprehension, pride and wonderment from their Kitchener, Ontario home. While the rover’s journey captured the joy of discovery for scientists and nonscientists alike, Mark’s contribution to NASA’s mission was a bit more personal.
After all, not everyone’s artwork travels 250 million kilometres to land on the surface of another world.
“I was told I could be considered an ‘interplanetary artist,’” he says. “Once we saw those first images from Perseverance, and knew the camera system was working, I exhaled—it was a very emotional moment.”
As a digital specialist for The Planetary Society, the world’s largest and most influential non-profit space organization, Hilverda worked with rover scientists to create artwork that would embellish the calibration target used by two of the rover’s scientific cameras known as Mastcam-Z. He designed seven icons, or vignettes, that tell a pictorial story of the evolution of life: from the creation of our Solar System, to the existence of life to space exploration. They include an image of Mars, Venus and the Earth orbiting the Sun, a DNA strand, cyanobacteria, a fern, a dinosaur, a man and woman, and finally a rocket.
“Space is a topic that makes you think a little differently,” he says while describing why pictures and inspirational messages adorn the calibration target. “Art tells a story and scientists want to share passion, beauty and joy too. In this case, we’re sharing it on behalf of humankind. The message The Joy of Discovery is written in several languages around the target. Who knows, someday that piece of instrumentation might be an exhibit in a Mars museum.”
Hilverda specialized in Hydrogeology at Waterloo, a major that allowed him to combine his passion for science, nature and exploration with the story of life on this planet. He added a second degree in Classics from the Faculty of Arts. The two degrees fed his curiosity of human life, our relevance in the world and who we are as a civilization. His love of exploration took his career to The Planetary Society, where he had already been an active member for years. Under the guidance of CEO Bill Nye, Hilverda works diligently on communicating science for the greater public community. In addition to web design and development he runs a science journal club for Society members and supports the ongoing work of exploring other worlds, defending Earth from asteroids, and the search for life beyond our planet.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have found my passion and live it daily,” he says. “Understanding our place in space means my curiosity is continually being fed. There’s always more to explore, so I’ll never be bored, and that’s a great place to be.”
For those inspired by the discovery and exploration currently being pursued in the Faculty of Science and the impacts our alumni are making on the universe, we invite you to connect with the Director of Science Advancement to learn how your generosity can make a meaningful impact. Philanthropic support is transformative in advancing scientific research and enabling groundbreaking discoveries that can inspire curiosity and wonder.