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NASA Sends Lego Figures to Jupiter

Posted by samzenpus on from the universal-toy dept.

bLanark writes "NASA have teamed up with Lego and will send three specially crafted, minifigures towards Jupiter in a probe to be launched on an Atlas V rocket on Friday. The figures, representing Roman gods Jupiter and Juno, and astronomer Galileo, are machined from aluminum and are the normal size for Lego minifigures. From the article: 'This (until now) secret installation was initiated by NASA scientists, who love Lego as much as anyone and wanted to do something memorable for this mission. They approached Lego and the company loved the idea. It saw the project as a way to promote children’s education and STEM programs.'"

2 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. What a waste by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    They could've done something more with the resources they've put into sending these figures to Jupiter, but that's only my opinion.

  2. Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way by Arlet · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's actually a pretty lousy way. If kids aren't already in awe by a probe visiting Jupiter, it's pointless to 'bribe' their interest with LEGO figures. Even if this will make them interested, it's only going to work for whatever short attention span they have, and it's getting them interested for the wrong reasons.

    It reminds me of the way we try to make math more interesting at schools.