The Paintings of YU Math Professor Displayed at European Space Agency Paris Headquarters
On Sept. 18, YU Math Professor Dr. Edward Belbruno will be featured in an art exhibition at the Headquarters of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris, France. Having previously been displayed at ESA’s Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany, this is the first ever art exhibition to be hosted at ESA’s two major centers.
Dr. Belbruno’s paintings were previously displayed at ESOC Germany in late 2023. From there, the artwork was shown at a public gallery in Darmstadt, Germany known as LAB3. Now arriving in Paris, Dr. Belbruno’s work has successfully traversed Europe. The opening of the Paris show will be attended by ESA Director General Dr. Josef Aschbacher and ESA Operations Director Rolf Densing, as well as other ESA staff and guests.
The Paris exhibition will run until early 2025 and features a total of 12 paintings by Dr. Belbruno, a noted mathematician, who is equally adept in plotting trajectories of space travel as he is in wielding the painter’s brush.
Dr. Belbruno started painting with oils at the age of seven, displaying a rare talent for capturing and creating landscapes and other spellbinding visuals. After completing his doctorate in mathematics from NYU’s Courant Institute in 1980, his life journey took him into aerospace engineering. This led to a math field known as astrodynamics, which deals with trajectories to the Moon, as well as other destinations, such as Mars and Jupiter. Dr. Belbruno gained experience in this field of learning when he went to work for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA – which sends robotic spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, asteroids, and other comets.
Around that time, in the late 1980s, Ed formulated a new theory of space trajectories using ideas from advanced chaos theory, which had never been used before in aerodynamics. The theory, coined “Ballistic Lunar Capture,” was that spacecraft would travel more slowly into space, which would allow them to then “lock into” the orbit around the moon without having to brake. Both of these elements would entail the use of much less fuel than the previously traditional method of a straight flight from Earth to the Moon – and would save NASA hundreds of millions of dollars on each launch.
However, Dr. Belbruno became stuck with how exactly this kind of trajectory would look in mathematical terms. This was solved by employing his artistic talent. Just as Van Gogh had done in his post-impressionist paintings such as “Starry Night” – Dr. Belbruno let his brush strokes lead him to the calculated solution for his theory.
He came up with a series of paintings connected to low fuel trajectories from the Earth to the Moon – the first entitled “Low Fuel Route to the Moon,” which will be on display in Paris.
This painting helped Dr. Belbruno plot the first route he discovered in 1987 – a so-called “interior ballistic capture” that created a new, more efficient route from Earth to the Moon – which was eventually used for the SMART 1 mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2004.
“Using a painting for such an important discovery is unique in the history of science,” Ed explains. “In 1986, I was on a strict deadline to find such a trajectory. If not, I could have been fired. Since there was nothing on it in the literature, I let go of convention and math, and relied on my painting to help point the way. Something within my subconscious mind kicked in and enabled the discovery to be revealed in the painting. It was magical – and later verified on the NASA computer. This kind of thing has happened several times in my work, but not to this extent.
“My painting helped me come up with the exact calculations for a ballistic capture transfer for the first time ever. However, at that pace, it would have taken 2.5 years to reach the Moon. In 1990, I found a much shorter flight time version taking four months to the Moon. This is known as an 'exterior ballistic capture transfer,' because it leaves the Earth, flies by the Moon – going three times the Earth-Moon distance beyond the Moon (hence the term ‘exterior’) – and then slowly falls back to the Moon. At this point, it is ‘ballistically captured,’ needing no extra fuel. It's like a surfer catching a wave.”
The trajectory was used by NASA again in 2010, and lately, including last year, for other missions from Europe, South Korea, the US, and Japan. Many more are planned. The trajectory is, in fact, becoming the most sustainable, preferable route to the moon.
Dr. Belbruno’s revolutionary artistic creation “Low Fuel Route to the Moon,” which inspired this interior ballistic capture transfer, will be on permanent display at ESOC in Germany, after the Paris show concludes in early 2025.
The Paris show also will include one of Dr. Belbruno’s favorite paintings, called “Chaos Trajectory to the Moon,” a painting like the artist himself, that perfectly weds science and art.
“I love that painting,” said Dr. Belbruno. “It represents a perfect marriage of mathematical chaos theory and abstract art in one piece. There is no other work like it. My paintings display multiple styles, from realistic to abstract. They really do break the mold, and I am excited that ESA’s employees and guests will be able to enjoy my work at this show.”
And what do Dr. Belbruno’s students back at ӣ think of their professor’s otherworldly exploits?
“They love it. They think it is very cool. One of my students is working on a master’s thesis to determine if there is chaos theory in the brush strokes of paintings. I feel honored that people are inspired by my work,” said Dr. Belbruno.
The exhibition, entitled “Chaos, Other Worlds and the Universe” will be on display at ESA Paris until early 2025. The complete exhibition can be viewed at the following website link:
