NASA has released a pop culture-inspired design for the agency’s new mission patch. The agency has decided to put two beloved marvel superhero characters, Groot and Rocket from Guardian’s of the Galaxy on the decorative patch for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). Recently, NASA and other organizations like CASIS have tried to incorporate pop culture icons to create more entertainment tie-in’s to bring in a younger fan base to the space race.
The space agency has recently tried to incorporate themselves into the marketing and promotion of The Martian. The film depicts space exploration in a creative way by telling a story about a lone astronaut’s way back home to earth by finding a way to live on Mars. NASA took the opportunity to promote their future 2030 space exploration to Mars in the film, which made fans of the movie tweet, post and comment on social media about the future mission. Not only that but NASA compared The Martian’s flight path to mars with one of their own, showing the similarities of how they plan to one day land on the red planet. NASA’s #JourneytoMars campaign with The Martian film was highly successful not only for the film but for the agency, who hopes to bring in a fresh wave of space enthusiasts.
Without more public support, NASA ceases to get additional funding from the government. NASA has tried to incorporate itself into other films’ marketing, like the newest additions to the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. CASIS has reported that they are trying to bring in more notoriety to the future space projects. Although with the recent sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy coming up soon, CASIS decided having Marvel characters would be a good investment to gain more space lovers. Not only that, CASIS is planning to announce a STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics initiative out of Groot and Rocket.
The CASIS patch was designed by Juan Doe, who is well known for making art covers for Marvel products. NASA Oasis plans, if possible, to have Groot and Rocket become the official emblem for the upcoming Mars missions. James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy director, tweeted his delight to see Groot and Rocket on the patch and hopefully by the year 2030, he could see them as the official symbol of space exploration.
