Tag Archive for Curiosity (rover)

How You Can Search for Signs of Life on Mars

The Search for Life on MarsIs there life on Mars? This is one of the most fascinating questions that humanity has ever asked. For centuries, we have wondered if we are alone in the universe. Are there other beings out there, perhaps on our neighboring planet? There are several theories about life on Mars. Some argue that Mars has life in the subsurface, but it is hidden from our detection. Others argue that life on Mars is very elusive, and only manifests itself under certain conditions. Another theory is that life on Mars is present but not native, meaning that it was brought there by meteorites or human missions.

3D map of Mars

what Mars looks like up closeThanks to the California Institute of Technology, you can now see for yourself what Mars looks like up close. They have built the highest-resolution global image of Mars and made it available to all of us on the internet. The interactive map uses data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. Amateur astrobiologists can click around the publicly accessible 3D map to explore different regions of the Red Planet.

Olympus Mons

While exploring, you can zoom in to see details like dust devil tracks crisscrossing the surface, evidence of the dynamic and windy Martian weather. You can visit areas like Gale Crater and Jezero Crater, where NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are searching for signs of life. Or, you can tour Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system. The volcano towers over 21 kilometers above the surrounding plains. You can also see many impact craters marking the surface of Mars, some of which, may have hosted lakes or oceans in the past.

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This amazing map is a great way to learn more about Mars and its geology, climate, and history. It also allows us to imagine what it would be like to live there someday or to encounter life forms that may have evolved differently from us. Whether you are a science enthusiast, a curious student, or a dreamer, you will find something to marvel at in this stunning visualization of our planetary neighbor.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedInFacebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

How Much Code Does It Take?

How Much Code Does It Take?David McCandless from Information is Beautiful tries to answer the question of how many millions of lines of code does it take to? For reference, the Visual Capitalist calculates that a million lines of code (MLOC), if printed, would be about 18,000 pages of text. That’s 14x the length of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. The total lines of code to run systems vary widely as Mr. McCandless shows in the infographic.

  • Stack of paperIt took less than a million lines of code to run the NASA Space Shuttle.
    • The Mars Rover Curiosity takes less than 5 million lines of code to run.
    • The latest version of the Firefox web browser includes just under 10 million lines of code.
    General Motors’ (GM) Chevy Volt requires just over 10 million lines of code.
    Microsoft (MSFT) Office 2008 for the Apple (AAPL) Mac consists of over 35 million lines of code.
    • And it took 50 million lines of code to bring us Microsoft Vista.
    • Finally, all Google (GOOG) services combine for a whopping 2 billion lines – that means it would take 36 million pages to “print out” all of the code behind all Google services. That would be a stack of paper 2.2 miles high!

Information is Beautiful Infographic
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedInFacebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Your Next Job

Your Next JobHate your job? The Business Insider says that only 19% of IT professionals are really happy at work. Still feeling the bite of the 2008 depression, market correction, recession, recovery that wont recover? Here is an out-of-this-world opportunity. NASA wants you to apply for a  job on Mars.

Work on Mars

The space agency released a series of recruitment posters that advertise potential positions that may one day need to be filled on Mars. The posters feature ads for farmers, surveyors, teachers, technicians, and other positions.

Journey to Mars‘ (PDF) plans to colonize the Red Planet envisions people living and working in Martian colonies beginning in 2030.

You can download all the posters from the NASA website.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedInFacebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Mars Rock Stars by HP

Mars Rock Stars by HPNow that big sister Curiosity has stolen all the thunder from the original NASA Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. It is time to recall when they were the rock stars on Mars. They were so cool in the day that even stodgy HP (HPQ) had a commercial with the first Mars Rovers.

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedInFacebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.