Witty Perseverance Selfie: Using the WATSON camera on its robotic arm, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover, on April 6, 2021. Credit: NASA /JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Download image >
A new STEM-themed kit developed in cooperation with NASA-JPL is designed to spark children’s interest in engineering and space through traditional toys and augmented reality.
While NASA perseverance vehicle and wit helicopter are busy exploring Mars, buildable models of them to one-tenths have begun landing in homes around the world.
Developed in cooperation with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, a new LEGO Technic building set is based on the real rover and helicopter, which have been roaming Mars. crater lake from landing there in February 2021. In its search for signs of ancient microbial life, Perseverance has been collecting rock and soil samples from Mars for a possible return to Earth in a future campaign. And Ingenuity became the first aircraft to perform controlled and powered flight on another planet, and has since completed more than 50 additional flights.
To create the construction set, LEGO designers met with JPL engineers to learn more about the engineering designs for the spacecraft. The kit is just one example of how JPL’s Technology Affiliate Program works with industry, in cooperation with Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships, which manages JPL for NASA. The latest in a history of NASA-LEGO collaborationsThe kit allows builders to explore key features of Perseverance, such as its mobility system and science instruments, view data returned by the rover, and complete interactive challenges.
By partnering with these technology transfer offices and programs, corporations can form strategic alliances with JPL to license intellectual property, as was the case with LEGO, or to gain access to JPL engineers and scientists to solve a variety of problems. technological problems. These cooperative efforts provide a streamlined way for JPL, one of 10 NASA centers across the country, to do business with the private sector. The bottom line is that technologies developed for the space program can benefit people on Earth and, in this particular case, help educate and excite the public about the space program.
“Our Mars missions started decades ago with an idea so big many thought it was impossible. Today, we have successfully landed rovers and even a helicopter on Mars to explore the climate, geology, and possibility of life on the Red Planet,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. “At JPL, we dream big and push boundaries as we seek to answer impressive scientific questions. I hope these types of toys awaken the same spirit of exploration in children that we have here at NASA JPL.”
Scott Hulme, a Mars Public Engagement Specialist at JPL who helped the LEGO team refine the kit, said: “We love sharing the work that Perseverance and Ingenuity are doing on Mars, and collaborations like this are another way to make space exploration more fun and accessible. to the next generation of explorers.
JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover e wit helicopter.
For more information on JPL’s Office of Technology Transfer, visit:
https://ott.jpl.nasa.gov/licensing
News Press Contact
D.C. Eagle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Written by Jane Platt