Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL) are busy keeping the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopters operating in Jezero Crater on Mars as robotic researchers continue to search for ancient microbes on the Red Planet. But some of those same engineers have been busy working with LEGO designers on the tenth new LEGO Technic building model for these same researchers with the goal of inspiring the next generation of NASA scientists and engineers.
This collaborative effort reflects NASA’s commitment to working with the private sector by sharing ideas and technology expertise through JPL’s Technology Affiliates Program and Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Affairs. For LEGO’s new STEM-themed kits, LEGO designers worked hard to learn about Endurance and Intelligence technology to design and build the most accurate LEGO models.
“Our missions to Mars started decades ago with a very big idea; many thought it was impossible. Today, we successfully piloted rovers and helicopters to Mars to investigate the climate, geology, and potential for life on the Red Planet,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin in a statement on June 22. “At JPL, we dream big and push the boundaries as we seek to answer questions. interesting scientists. I hope that these types of toys bring out the spirit of exploration in children that we have here at NASA’s JPL. “
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NASA and LEGO have a long history of collaboration dating back to the 1990s in designing and building LEGOs to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. These include models of the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, the Space Shuttle Discovery and Hubble, the Saturn V, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Rocket Launch Center, and recently announced the possibility of a LEGO Moon Map.
LEGO figures have also been sent into space, as NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter had LEGO figures of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei attached to the spacecraft. Recently, four LEGO figures flew on the Artemis I mission.
The Perseverance rover with the Ingenuity helicopter flew into Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, and has helped provide new insights into what ancient Mars might have been like billions of years ago. In nearly two and a half years on the Red Planet, Endurance has traveled 18.87 km (11.72 miles) collecting samples and dropping tubes in preparation for a Mars Sample Return mission one day. The Ingenuity helicopter made its first flight on Mars on April 19, 2021, and has completed 51 flights during which it takes 91.4 minutes to fly 11.7 km (7.3 miles) and fly up to 18.0 m (59.1 ft).
Which new LEGO sets will inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and that’s why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking!
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