NASA Sends Lego Figures to Jupiter

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.'"

Comments

2011:

[circletimessquare]

A Lego Odyssey

they should have at least thrown in a standard 8x2 thin black piece mounted vertically as a joke

Re:2011:

[MightyMartian]

That would have made it perfect!

"Dave,what are you doing with the Duplo. Dave?"

Re:2011:

[0xdeadbeef]

I think you mean 9x4.

Re:2011:

[bluemonq]

They don't have 9x4 pieces, unfortunately.

Re:2011:

[stderr_dk]

They don't normally have aluminium figures either.

Re:2011:

[leswt]

As an long time AFOL (adult fan of LEGO) I think this is great. By the way, the thin pieces are called plates and they are 1/3 as high as the regular bricks For more about the adult LEGO hobby check out my club's site www DOT michlug DOT org

Re:2011:

[geekoid]

If only there was some way you could hook different pieces to each other to make the desired shape.

Re:2011:

[zevans]

How naive to assume that the series ends there, in only three dimensions...

Re:2011:

[Anonymous Coward]

A Lego Odyssey

One: A Space Odyssey

Re:2011:

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't be a douchebag, 9x4? or 8x2? Who cares? It was a funny joke. Instead of nit-picking, why not move out of your parents' house and try losing your virginity.

Re:2011:

[laejoh]

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Re:2011:

[bluemonq]

Hook different pieces together? As a 9 by 4 by ONE monolith? That'd be pretty impressive.

What a waste

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:What a waste

[somersault]

Your life must be so much fun.

Re:What a waste

[siddesu]

LEGO is probably paying something, otherwise I agree.

Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

0) NASA approached Lego
1) Lego underwrote the project; 5K per mini
2) Using identifiable objects is a great way to get kids interested in science.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[MightyMartian]

3) It's just f'ing kewl.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Arlet]

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.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

Lego space sets that the kid can play with would create interest in science, but no kid is going to become interested in science because they launched some Lego figures to Jupiter. Really, this is just a stunt to garner attention for the mission and get a little advertising in for Lego.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[blair1q]

Can I interest you in a course in HTML?

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

That's silly. I became interested in computers as a result of wanting to play video games. One day I thought... What is this box the game runs on, anyway? I started digging, and I've been trotting Fortune-50s ever since.

Getting kids interested in the tiniest corner of a field of science is a great way to open the door to bigger and better interests.

Kids who love LEGO are thinkers, dreamers, and imagineers. If LEGO becomes their ingress point to astronomy, who are you to judge? Bottom line, this is a great idea.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[blair1q]

Get used to it.

NASA's budget is a dried scab because NASA has been preternaturally awful at getting anyone but its existing acolytes interested in anything it does.

Yes, it had Apollo, and Skylab, and the Shuttle, but it had a naive attitude towards PR, thinking that getting Presidents to praise you is enough.

If this is what it takes to get onto on the cover of Wired, then this is what they need more of.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Gilmoure]

*golf clap*

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[SnarfQuest]

3) Somebody has already lost their hats.
4) The figures always seem to be found in a sexually explicit configuration.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[black soap]

When will they start selling machined aluminum lego parts to, say, me? I demand to benefit from NASA projects, personally!

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[geekoid]

I guess the depends on what age we are talking about.

I guess if you had your way you would just slap down a book on the maths of orbital mechanics and say 'read up kid, it's cool, homey'

Something has to catch their interest. Going to Jupiter is only cool and awe inspiring when you can only understand how far away it is, and the science that can be done. Until then, using Lego to get interest is fine.

My name, my wife's name, and my kids names are on Mars, and also on an comet. When my kids where old enough, I told them about it which lead to a description of probes, and an interesting conversation about Mars and a Comet. A conversation that went off and on for days.

http://marsparticipate.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/media/deepimpact-050904.html

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Jason Levine]

Probes going to Jupiter is a pretty abstract concept to younger kids. They might understand that this machine is flying through space to another planet, but it doesn't relate to anything they've seen or done. Add Lego figures into the mix and it relates to something they've seen and done. They've played with Legos before. So now it becomes Legos (similar to the ones in their own room) being flung through space to arrive on a completely different planet. Teens and older can appreciate the scientific achievements that might result from the mission, but younger kids will appreciate that a toy similar to one they own is hurtling through space.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Arlet]

I guess if you had your way you would just slap down a book on the maths of orbital mechanics and say 'read up kid, it's cool, homey'

How about a book about the solar system, with nice glossy pictures of all the planets ? That's what my generation had as kids.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Arlet]

No, but you can interest me in an 'edit' feature for slashdot to fix simple typos.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Lego underwrote the project; 5K per mini

Unless lego paid the NASA beurocrats for their time dealing with this thing, then it is STILL theft by taxes. Dissolve NASA ***NOW***, we don't need a bunch of useless overpaid scientists sucking at the teat of the working man to play games with toys.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[lessthan]

The PR thing amuses me. There was the press conference today about MAYBE water on Mars. WTF? If it is above 75% certainty, say "We found water on Mars!" Any less certainty than 75%, why say anything at all?

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

It's there, but they've mislabeled it as "Preview"

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[mikael]

I'm sure I once saw one of those magnetic office toys with lego bricks - definitely had the one with the circular pad and the diamond shaped leaves.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[swv3752]

Stop using a computer. Stop driving a modern car. And stop receiving modern health care. Stop talking on a cell phone. Stop watching cable (cable gets much of its programming from Satellite) or satellite tv. Stop using GPS. All this is because of the space program.

And stop posting on slashdot, that is theft of service from your employer.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[mikael]

There have been/are lego space sets. One had Moon tiles (two L shaped tile craters, a yellow line runway and landing pad) along with spaceships, roving vehicles and a few astronauts.

The fun thing I remember from those days was having those battery packs, wires and little lighting bricks and the transparent coloured bricks. It was fun to modify a standard lego model and add motors/lights everywhere, then switch the room lights off.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

[citation needed]

"modern cars" were available long before space flight. most advances that made modern healthcare possible have nothing to do with space. cell phones and cable would be there even without space programs - the principles were discovered long before of that. Even GPS was put in place by the military, not by NASA.

So, try again.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[ArsonSmith]

3.14 goto 0

Hah, get it? It's a loop...

I'll be here all night.

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[DerekLyons]

2) Using identifiable objects is a great way to get kids interested in science.

[[citation needed]]

Re:Lets knock the trolls out of the way

[Ambvai]

Whereas unidentifiable objects are what gets the scientists interested in science!

Sure, it's cute and fun now

[Megahard]

But wait until it reaches some alien civilization, and then they come back and conquer us with their new Lego machines.

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[Talderas]

We have our own LEGO machines to combat against the ones they send.

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[Gilmoure]

Or the aliens will invade, expecting mini-fig sized people.

COOL!

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude shut up, Michael Bay might be listening!

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[FatLittleMonkey]

No, brother, we... have... Meccano.

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[camperdave]

We *USED* to have Meccano. Now all they have is pre-designed bolt together models for pre-schoolers. It's worse than Lego.

Re:Sure, it's cute and fun now

[Jason Levine]

We'll combat them with toddlers who destroy their Lego machines. Of course, they will fight back with Lego mines planted all over the Earth that hurt our feet when we step on them. Wait... (checks living room where my kids were playing) the aliens have already invaded!!!

Juno got the shaft

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Looks like Juno got the short end of the design stick. Where the other two characters got custom beards, tools and whatnot...she got flowing hair and a frying pan?

Re:Juno got the shaft

[BJ_Covert_Action]

I think she's holding a magnifying glass, because she can "perr into the heart of Jupiter," which is the stated reason why the spacecraft itself is called Juno.

Re:Juno got the shaft

[VIPERsssss]

Wikipedia says she's "goddess of marriage" so the frying pan makes sense.

Re:Juno got the shaft

[Baloroth]

Well, she is a married god, so a cooking utensil is quite appropriate. Especially with that flat a chest.*ducks*

Re:Juno got the shaft

[shoehornjob]

Looks like Juno got the short end of the design stick. Where the other two characters got custom beards, tools and whatnot...she got flowing hair and a frying pan?

Flowing hair = good frying pan = magnifying glass OOHHH DOH

Re:Juno got the shaft

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Um, peer, that is. Is anyone else having problems with Firefox spellcheck working in Slashdot text boxes?

Later that decade...

[Anonymous Coward]

Later that decade...

        --News Brief--
NASA and Lego jointly announced a product recall today. The recall is a result of their failure to include the following product safety information:

"
Choking Hazard: Contains small parts, not for aliens under 3 galactic units.
Allergy Information: This product is manufactured on shared equipment that processes Earth and Earth compounds.
"

Re:Later that decade...

[edremy]

Ironically, Juno is slated to burn up in Jupiter's atmosphere at the end of the mission to avoid contaminating any of the moons with Earth Goo...

Shame on NASA ..

[OzPeter]

Sending 3 heroes of the western world on a suicide mission where their last moments will be like in Toy Story 3 with the figures silently considering their fate as slowly approach the fiery furnace. Except that this time there is no hope of escape.

Re:Shame on NASA ..

[blair1q]

Haha. There's always hope of escape. It's Hollywood! Even within the orbit of Megaclite!

Re:Shame on NASA ..

[BetaDays]

"I don't believe in the no-win scenario." - Kirk about the Kobayashi Maru

Re:Shame on NASA ..

[Jason Levine]

Maybe this could be the plot of Toy Story 4. The toys somehow wind up aboard an interplanetary probe and must figure out a way to divert it back to Earth before it crashes, stranding or destroying them. It's revealed that Buzz Lightyear actually knows a great deal about astrophysics. (He is a space toy, after all.)

juno site sucks

[burris]

The juno mission web site is a gigantic, slothlike, steaming pile of crap. It takes forever to load, plays music, makes your computer get hot which causes the fans to crank up, forces you to read agonizingly slow text that fades in, etc... I couldn't even find what I was looking for so I just closed the tab. What a huge waste of money.

Re:juno site sucks

[Baloroth]

The juno mission web site is a gigantic, slothlike, steaming pile of crap. It takes forever to load, plays music, makes your computer get hot which causes the fans to crank up, forces you to read agonizingly slow text that fades in, etc... I couldn't even find what I was looking for so I just closed the tab. What a huge waste of money.

So... it's like a wife?

P.S. For those who still don't get the joke: Juno is the Roman goddess of marriage.

Re:juno site sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Your computer sucks. It looks like you are trying to open a website with IE6 running a hamster-powered Babbage engine. Can I help you with that?

Next up...

[Haedrian]

What they should next is throw a teapot

Russel will turn in his grave.

So Who Says...

[BJ_Covert_Action]

So who says we geeks don't know how to have fun?

Re:So Who Says...

[nedlohs]

Pretty much everyone who reads the article.

Re:So Who Says...

[Anonymous Coward]

they can say that. but let until they do their fun IN SPACE, they can suck it.

Re:So Who Says...

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Well, I suppose we're lucky that proper ettiquette says not to RTFA then. ;)

want!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok lego/NASA now that we know about these you gotta sell them! I want one!

Approximate cost

[SirBitBucket]

Assuming each of those figures is about 1 cubic inch of aluminum, and aluminum weighs in at 0.098 lb/in^3, and it costs about $10,000/lb to put something in space... then... 3 * 0.98 * $10000 = $2940 taxpayer dollars to put these things in space. I am all for the space program, but this seems like little more than a waste of money, even if it is cool.

Re:Approximate cost

[Haedrian]

You think this giant advertisment for LEGO is going to be paid in 'taxpayer dollars' ?

Re:Approximate cost

[SirBitBucket]

I assume Lego Group will provide the figures for free. Not sure if they will reimburse taxpayers for the cost to put them into space.

Re:Approximate cost

[sjames]

The thing is, it is often necessary to add a bit of ballast to a spaceflight in order to keep everything in balance. That can either be boring lead bars or cool lego figures. Effectively, they got Lego to subsidize the cost of some of the ballast. Cost to taxpayer: -$1.

Re:Approximate cost

[Anonymous Coward]

aaaand, if you'd read the article, you'd know that the lego corp is paying $15,000 for it. Which, by your calculation, means that NASA is making a profit.

Also, a minifig, even if solid, is way less than a cubic inch.

Re:Approximate cost

[Anonymous Coward]

How about we have NASA blast you into space and we call it even?

Re:Approximate cost

[pluther]

Leaving aside that $2940 is practically nothing to spend on as much publicity as both NASA and LEGO are getting for this, you're "Not sure" if Lego will be paying for this?

Gee, I wonder where such information might be found?

I understand that you might not read the article, a lot of people don't. But, really, if you wanted more detailed information, the article might be a good place to start.

And, failing that, there's a comment a little above yours (Subject="Let's knock the trolls out of the way") that also answers your question.

And, in case you got this far without looking up there out of a sense of embarrassment if nothing else, the answer to your question is yes, LEGO is paying NASA $5,000 per figure to send them to Jupiter, or about five times what you estimate it'll cost.

Re:Approximate cost

[phobos512]

Based on freely available specifications (http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/elvs/atlas5_specs.shtml) for the Atlas V-551 launch vehicle, the density of aluminum you stated and a best case estimation of the payload weight (just over 18,000 lbs based on the above site), I calculated $6084/lb, which comes out to $1789 to launch these little guys. HOWEVER, with the dimensions of a minifig from here (http://snively.blogspot.com/2009/04/lego-minifig-dimensions.html) and here (http://snively.blogspot.com/2009/04/lego-minifig-dimensions.html) the volume of a minifig is closer to 0.59 in^3 so the total works out to just about $1054. And by the way, you had a typo in your result up above, though your answer is correct.

Re:Approximate cost

[beanpoppa]

From TFA:

The brick company even underwrote the project, at a cost of $5,000 for each of the minifigs,

Re:Approximate cost

[SirBitBucket]

I did indeed read TFA, and it was rather ambiguous as to whether the $5k per figure was for the manufacture of the figure itself, or the cost of getting it into space, or both. $4k per figure to manufacture custom figures from a material Lego does not normally deal with (aluminum) is not at all out of line. So perhaps you should take your sarcastic tone elsewhere and read the article carefully. I do agree the publicity is probably a good thing. However, perhaps not so much when a lot of people are questioning the necessity of a space program at all. While we geeks understand the needs, and think this is cool, the guy on the street who lost his job last week may wish those extra dollars went his way.

Re:Approximate cost

[SirBitBucket]

I meant $5k per figure... not $4k...

Re:Approximate cost

[geekoid]

Lego paid for it.
And it doesn't literally use money as fuel.
They will use X amount of fuel with, or without this items.
And it's cost is 5 Grand, again paid for by Lego.

Re:Approximate cost

[SnarfQuest]

They could always make money on these by dropping them in a bottle of urine and selling pictures of that for $20,000 each. It works with plastic Jesus statues.

WANT!

[blair1q]

Especially the Galileo.

Re:WANT!

[circletimessquare]

if lego is smart, they'll market copies

Re:WANT!

[edremy]

If Lego was smart, they would already *have* copies in the stores today.

(Can't say too much bad about Lego right now- having too much fun with my son's new Mindstorms kit.)

Re:WANT!

[blair1q]

I want a Galileo, and a Newton, and an Einstein, and a Schrodinger (but no stupid cat!), and a Hawking.

Re:WANT!

[Jason Levine]

The Schrodinger minifig package comes with a smaller opaque package that both contains and doesn't contain a cat until someone opens it.

Re:WANT!

[blair1q]

Or maybe it does, until they open it.

Re:WANT!

[Garabito]

Here is your Hawking, sir!

http://helektron.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/stephenhawking.jpg

Re:WANT!

[Anonymous Coward]

You could make a movie about toy making zombies. That would be great.

Re:WANT!

[Ambvai]

That would be a pretty cool bonus, actually. Half the Schroedinger packs have a cat, half of them don't!

Great

[Osgeld]

I love it when people are being cute with my money, shit couldn't shove a couple more sensors in there for um I dunno science?

Re:Great

[snookerhog]

are you speaking as the owner of LEGO A/S?

Re:Great

[joebok]

Sounds like it was funded by Lego. Nevertheless, while there is a certain cool/nostalgia factor, it does seem sad that we are sending toys into space at the same time as the shuttle program ends and American manned space flight enters a hiatus of unknown duration.

It is the cart before the horse - if we are taking the trouble to send toys to space, shouldn't we also be sending kids to play with those toys?

Re:Great

[sjames]

I'm sure re-designing the entire spacecraft to shove an extra sensor in there would have been MUCH cheaper that adding a couple ounces of ballast!

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

oh don't worry we paid full price for X payload to go from point A to point B, and the lego deal was just a little extra on the side, its a common thing for moving companies

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

You mean the money that you spent on Lego playsets when you were growing up? Because if you're quite done being a cynical bastard, you could RTFA and discover that Lego footed the costs, not NASA.

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Well if you're going to buy an Atlas 551 to get this spacecraft to Jupiter in the first place, and you have a little extra performance margin on the rocket that can cover the weight of adding three Lego figurines (which you do, a 551 is a damn powerful rocket, and three aluminum figures are not particularlly heavy). Then why not add something fun for the ride?

Stop wasting so much energy on being cranky. You'll give yourself an ulcer.

Re:Great

[acidreverb]

Lego paid for it, sooo.....

Re:Great

[Bob the Super Hamste]

It is the cart before the horse - if we are taking the trouble to send toys to space, shouldn't we also be sending kids to play with those toys?

I have a couple I would considering donating to the cause. The oldest loves legos

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

or add some more scientific equipment so every ounce of space is used effectively and not "for fun for the children who probably wont even be told about this" bullshit

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

god you people are so gullible, here it is again the OLDEST RIP OFF IN THE FUCKING BOOK

oh don't worry we paid full price for X payload to go from point A to point B, and the lego deal was just a little extra on the side, its a common thing for moving companies

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

yea and we as taxpayers paid to have that thing loaded with scientific equipment, where the fuck is my refund?

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no refund troll boy. It's rather tied up in the scientific equipment. Your share, by the way, would cost more to stamp than the check would be worth.

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Oh yeah. Because scientific equipment that can survive the myriad of environments this spacecraft will see between here and Jupiter is just something you buy at Wal-Mart and duct tape onto you spacecraft three days before launch. It's not like any of it needs extensive, expensive calibration testing or thermal envelope testing to ensure it will work properly. Nor does scientific equipment need specialized, one-off design components built into it like rad-hardened microchips and vibration survivable optics. Nope. Scientific equipments is obviously just as cheap, simple, and easy to design as static aluminum weight balances machined to look cool. No extra cost, risk, or overhead to come along with that.

Oh, and before you say that they should have built in one more scientific instrument from the start of the mission, you need to do some research on a portion of spacecraft design known as mass margin. NASA has been accounting for a little extra mass margin in the design of this spacecraft from the get go. That margin reduces the risk of a schedule slip later in the design lifecycle. As the design matures, the margin decreases, but since launch vehicle selection occurs relatively early in a mission design lifecycle, a rocket would have been chosen that could lift that extra design margin mass. Since the expected mass was lower than the mass planned for, there was some performance that NASA could eat up with whatever they damn well pleased to slap onto their spacecraft at the last minute without further endanering the flight. Since scientific equpiment can't be will-nilly slapped onto a spacecraft, they would have had to pick something relatively safe, simple, and ultimately useless: like Lego action figures, or nothing at all (which would have been boring and generated no publicity).

Any other questions smartass? And before you ask, yes, I do spacecraft design and launch performance analysis for a living.

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Are we gullible or educated in how the launch industry works?

Rockets like the Atlas V 551 are sold at a certain price. They can lift a certain amount to a certain velocity. If your spacecraft happens to be just slightly under the mass threshold you need it to be to achieve the desired velocity, then you can pretty much put whatever you want on it as long as you remain under that mass threshold.

Believe it or not, not everything cool that happens is not a giant conspiracy by a large corporation in an attempt to pull one over on the poor, unsuspecting masses.

Or, barring the possibility that you are a tinfoil-hatter, and you really are just genuinely this pessimisitc, I will leave you with the good news that the world doesn't always suck, and you are allowed to get excited about some things. Isn't that great news?!

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

thats fine but where is the scientific equipment we paid to fill this thing. obviously its not filled

its like this, if you paid for a full dump truck of gravel and later found out it was cut a little short so it can be topped off with mulch and your still paying full price of the delivery, you would be asking questions.

Re:Great

[Osgeld]

So fuck it lets remove every chunk of scientific equipment and send a fucking garbage can of higest bidders trinkets and toys, there was room to put metal legos there was room for 1 more fucking sensor that could have done something other than go along for the ride

Re:Great

[bckrispi]

You had to post this on a day where I had no mod points. :(

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Yep, because that's not emotional hyperbole or anything.

How about this? How about you give me a link to a company that makes a sensor, or a link to the sensor itself, that weighs about as much as the Lego figurines, that requires no additional calibration or testing, that could survive within the environmental envelope this spacecraft will see, and that costs less than $15,000. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Re:Great

[BJ_Covert_Action]

What can I say? I have great timing. :D

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it's like this. You ordered a truck full of gravel. They filled the truck with gravel and the driver brought a cup of coffee with him. You're all pissed off because the cab could have been filled up with gravel right?

Now a satellite doesn't have a cab, but it's going to have a little extra volume. Neither "scientific equipment" nor gravel is going to take up all of the space in a given volume. You're drawing a line between a research instrument and a gallon of milk. You don't just open up the top of a space craft and pour in "scientific equipment" until you top it off...

And anyway, it looks like they put the figurines on the outside of the craft so really your mad because your truck full of gravel had mud on the wheels.

Your an idiot.

I just don't understand

[Lysander7]

How could NASA have run out of funding with projects such as these?!

Re:I just don't understand

[Jason Levine]

NASA didn't fund this. The probe to Jupiter was an existing project with a real (non-Lego-related) purpose. They thought it'd be fun to toss some Lego minifigs in the probe. So they approached Lego who paid for the figures to be made. NASA had a zero net cost for including these figures versus not including them. (A few ounces of aluminum isn't going to cost much more in rocket fuel.)

Budget

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess NASA's budget issues are worse than we thought!

You want Juno should have a beard?

[SmallFurryCreature]

I know she is Greek but come on, we can at least PRETEND she doesn't have a beard you could loose a badger in.

And as far I know Lego doesn't do boobies. Probably to avoid boys being afraid of sharp edges or girl afraid of them falling off if you wiggle them to much.

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[Baloroth]

girl afraid of them falling off if you wiggle them to much.

Speaking as a guy, that would be most unfortunate.

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[alta]

If Lego did do boobies maybe some of us would start playing with legos again ;)

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[FatLittleMonkey]

some of us would start playing with legos again

Every time an American says "legos", Denmark dies a little inside.

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[Bob the Super Hamste]

If Lego did do boobies maybe some of us would start playing with legos again ;)

I wouldn't, who would want to play with tiny, hard plastic boobies.

Note: I still play with Legos as I now have kids old enough to play with them and it appears that they have moved away from the massive amounts of specialty pieces they had about a decade ago.

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[somersault]

what is this I don't even

Re:You want Juno should have a beard?

[rocket rancher]

I wouldn't, who would want to play with tiny, hard plastic boobies.

Ahh, c'mon, silicone isn't all that hard...

The fundies will gripe...

[Anonymous Coward]

...about launching strange gods into space.

Budget cuts and fundie uproar here we come!

This is why

[Anonymous Coward]

Your dumbassed space agency is being cut off from money. Fucking morons.

cue confused aliens in 3..2..

[Lead Butthead]

next thing you know, some aliens will conclude that there were once a shriving civilization on Jupiter, but vanished abruptly...

Re:cue confused aliens in 3..2..

[somersault]

Haha.. funny that that's a real word

Re:cue confused aliens in 3..2..

[spud603]

hehe. The Great Shriving Civilization of Jupiter. They died out through excessive penance.

$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[The O Rly Factor]

How precisely do you spend $5000 on an aluminum figure about an inch and a half in size?? I could turn out all three of those on a vertical mill in one afternoon with about $5 worth of aluminum.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[The_mad_linguist]

Great. Now get them up there.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[SilverAlicorn]

NASA doesn't just chuck stuff on a rocket and launch it on an interplanetary mission. TFA mentions that LEGO had to design them so as not to interfere with the probe's measurements. This is a gravimetric survey of the planet, so the center-of-gravity of the probe has to be a very finely-known factor. There had to have been a fair amount of careful design and testing on both NASA's and LEGO's parts. Those rocket scientists aren't cheap!

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[geekoid]

A) You have to actually retool a piece of equipment to meet Lego's very precise measurements. I doubt you could do that.
B) You have to pay for the material.
C) You have to pay to have it done.
D) You have to pay the people who designed them.
F) You have to account for mistakes
G) You need to ship them
H) You need to be sure the are placed on the spacecraft to exact specs.

News flash: The world is bigger then your little mind, and shit costs money to do.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

LEGO usually manufactures things made from plastic. Presumably they had to buy tooling that was capable of cutting/molding aluminum, or had to pay a premium for a one off run on someone else's machine.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[BJ_Covert_Action]

I would wager that a good chunk of that change was spent on the wages of a professional writing the CNC mill code necessary to do such a detailed machining job. Those are pretty expensive skills

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[Osgeld]

yea nasa would never chuck useless crap like legos on a rocket ... oh wait

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sweet, Can I hire for a few projects? If all it is going to cost me to have you design a part and mill it is just the cost of the metal then I have a lot of work to send to you.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[sl4shd0rk]

You would need a 5th axis to do the 3D millwork efficiently which makes setup a little more complex. The cost of $5k probably includes CAD/CAM design time as well.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[6Yankee]

I'll bet some collector would pay ten times that to have one of these on his shelf. Imagine how much they'll be worth when they get to Jupiter!

When it's profitable to send a probe to bring them back and stick them on Ebay, we've won. :)

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

the other $4995 is to maintain it in a clean room state.

Re:$5000 per figure??? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

My guess is $5k includes the additional fuel costs from their weight.

"as a way to promote children's education..."

[cervesaebraciator]

They approached Lego and the company loved the idea. It saw the project as a way to promote Lego.

Fixed that for you.

(Not that there is anything wrong with promoting Lego)

Re:"as a way to promote children's education..."

[geekoid]

Lego has a history of promoting science and kids education.

Contrary to the belief of small mind idiots, sometime companies do things because they feel it's right. Does Lego really need more promotion? is there some American kid going "Lego? never heard of it. I'll go check them out."?

No, there isn't.

Re:"as a way to promote children's education..."

[cervesaebraciator]

Contrary to the belief of small mind idiots

Well that's not a terribly broad and liberal minded way to characterize people with whom you disagree but, I suppose, if it makes you happy then at least some good is done. Perhaps you just meant it as a light-hearted joke.

sometime companies do things because they feel it's right

Companies do not feel. Sometimes managers feel. Frequently employees feel. Occasionally shareholders scrutinize a company closely enough to feel. I will even assert with you that such is very possible in the case of those who run the LEGO Group which is privately traded. But even so, for any company to survive they must consider their bottom line. If a company like Lego chooses to promote science and education it is little surprise that they should do so in a way that promotes their brand as well. That is to be expected and that is why I also said with complete frankness, "Not that there is anything wrong with promoting Lego". I rather like Lego. I was merely amused by the limited and one sided portrayal of Lego's motives and I chose to share that amusement. Lego is a good company and I favor their self-promotion, but I also recognize its existence as a company. It would be small minded indeed to reckon only one motivation here. Real companies, run by real people, are motivated by many different factors. I attempted to recognize this in what I considered a harmless fashion by combining two tired old memes, one recognizing the other sort of motive and the other saying that such a motive isn't necessarily impure. I do not know how this has so offended you that you would start throwing about such labels as you have, but if inadvertently I have so offended, you have my apologies.

Does Lego really need more promotion? is there some American kid going "Lego? never heard of it. I'll go check them out."?

On this point, I really must disagree with you. Lego, like any company which produces consumer goods, spends significant sums of money on marketing and concerns itself a great deal with brand strategy. It is not enough for them to say, "Well, there is no American kid who is going to be surprised that we exist, so our work here is done." Modern marketing is all about brand recognition, especially as competitive as the market for toys is, and brand recognition requires the company to constantly remind consumers it exists. So, yes, Lego really does need more promotion and it will always need more promotion. Good for them that they choose to it in a manner that might promote science and education. Nonetheless, to fail to recognize the need for promotion as part of the motivation is to fail to recognize that this is a company with a shareholders and employees to pay.

This is the future of NASA

[makubesu]

We don't send people into space, but we do send legos shaped like people!

There's still time to send Obama instead!

[Anonymous Coward]

Send Obama to Jupiter instead!

Nobama2012! Vote Tea Party!

Re:There's still time to send Obama instead!

[Osgeld]

yea thats what we need, more politics in nasa

They finally admit it...

[Anonymous Coward]

So there IS live in our solar system. But not on Mars but on Jupiter; so now we send the aliens toys to please them ?

Next up: CERN

[zevans]

In which they'll collide them in the hope of seeing the Higgs Mechano.

Re:Next up: CERN

[zevans]

Or maybe superduplo.

Movie Tie-ins

[SnarfQuest]

Terminator 6: Back from Jupiter, and madder then hell.
Robotech: Arrival of the 5' long spaceship.
Sphere: Don't touch the beebee.
Stargate: Just blast 'em.
Star Wars: Who shot first, Han Solo or the melted plastic blob?

Re:Movie Tie-ins

[itsdapead]

Lego Capricorn 1: The Lego Jupiter mission was a fake, and three Lego figures who Know Too Much are now being pursued across the California desert...

Star Wars

[Oswald McWeany]

Surely the lego going to Jupiter should be Lego Star Wars.

Re:Star Wars

[pkinetics]

NO!!! Cause then we'd have aliens thinking we're all Wookies, or Force trained people who fly XWings... And that would really suck...

Material Science 101

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

a magnifying glass, because she can "peer into the heart of Jupiter"

Then they should have made that part out of transparent aluminum. ;)

Re:Material Science 101

[BJ_Covert_Action]

Well done. ;)

NASA Used to be a Space Exploration Agency

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they're just doing cheap PR stunts. The future is over. Entropy won. Enjoy your Legos.

just like theregister.co.uk

[Anonymous Coward]

But theirs don't quite make it into space.

Should've sent Lego Vader

[GodfatherofSoul]

Just to let those Jovian bitches know we're coming to take over!

Second mission

[No2Gates]

After that, they're sending Lincoln Logs to Uranus.

I for one...

[Skywolfblue]

welcome our new Lego overlords! Sounds like a great plot for a movie/game! Legos sent out to other planets evolve into sentient super-Legos and return to destroy the Earth.

LEGO and MER

[ScottMaxwell]

These LEGO figurines look awesome! My hat's off to the JUNO team!

We sent (flattened) LEGO figurines aboard the MER landers, too (not on the rovers proper). Their names were Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust, if I recall correctly. See my blog for a terrific color picture of Spirit's LEGO figurine before she drove away.

Beaten already ... by the BEC

[RockDoctor]

The Bristol Exploration Club, a UK-based caving club, have had one of their toys in orbit around Saturn for approaching 5 years now. And they probably have something in orbit around Mars too.

The BATS get everywhere!

Bugget cuts

[Anonymous Coward]

... a perfect time to start sending toys in space. R.I.P. NASA

Some unrelated things

[codeButcher]

Jupiter, Juno and Galileo - sounds like those type of jokes where you ask: which one doesn't fit.

I didn't know the Roman mythical dress code included pants.

Also, I think those Nasa people must be chuckling with glee at the thought of some space-faring civilisation, perhaps even human-descended, discovering the figures in some far-away future and using them as a basis from which to deduce the appearance of the "extinct dwarf races of Mars", and wondering about the purpose of the tools they hold in their ("there" in /.speak) pincher claws.

I will bet money

[ThatsNotPudding]

on hearing about these figures and their names, some evangelicals will loose the slight hold they have on thier minds and again charge the US gubbiment with promoting un-Christian values and the worship of false idols. Seriously.

Absolutely worthless. Seriously.

[Anonymous Coward]

How much money is being funneled into this, and from where?! Is there actually a mission?
And people in the USA wonder why people in every other country think we're useless humans that waste everything for our greedy, sloth-like lives.
This mission should be renamed; Pride.

NASA must be bored

[Anonymous Coward]

What a waste of money. Sending toys to space.