‘How much to send this to Mars?’

Osborne Ross Design has created a set of space-themed stamps for the Royal Mail to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Ariel 1, Britain’s first satellite.

Royal Mail Space Science Titan £1.28
Saturn’s moon Titan (£1.28)

The set of six stamps depict The Sun, Saturn and its largest moon Titan, the Lutetia asteroid, and our neighbours Venus and Mars.

Royal Mail Space Science Lutetia 77p
The Lutetia asteroid (77p)

All images are taken from missions conducted by the European Space Agency, of which Great Britain is a member.

Royal Mail Space Science Mars 77p
Ice on Mars (77p)

Osborne Ross Design, a rostered Royal mail consultancy, was given a selection of around 80-100 images acquired by the Royal Mail from the European Space Agency, according to Osborne Ross Design creative director Andrew Ross.

Royal Mail Space Science 1st Class The Sun
The Sun (first class)

‘Many rule themselves out because you can’t tell what they are, like The Sun shot with a filter so that it looks green,’ says Ross.

‘On a technical point you can only have a certain amount of black, due to sorting and franking procedures,’ he adds.

Royal Mail Space Science Saturn £1.28
Saturn (£1.28)

There is of course ‘a lot of black space’ in space, so Ross has manipulated the photographs to this end.

Royal mail Space Science Venus 1st Class
Venus (first class)

The stamps will be available in Post offices from 16 October and online at www.royalmail/spacescience.

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