Tag: JPL

NASA releases 3D-printable models to the public | gizmag.com

http://www.gizmag.com/nasa-3d-printable-models/33116/

As part of its continuing program of education and outreach, NASA has released 22 printable models of NASA and European space probes, asteroids, and planetary landscapes for the hobbyist and space enthusiast.

The 3D models are available from the NASA website for free and are printable on any desktop 3D printer using plastic filaments. It’s the latest in a long tradition of NASA science, technology artwork made available to the public going back to its founding in 1958.

On Pi Day, How Scientists Use This Number | NASA JPL

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4508

The world celebrates the number pi on Pi Day: March 14, 2015 (3/14/15). Here’s how pi is used in science and engineering.

If you like numbers, you will love March 14, 2015. When written as a numerical date, it’s 3/14/15, corresponding to the first five digits of pi (3.1415) — a once-in-a-century coincidence! Pi Day, which would have been the 136th birthday of Albert Einstein, is a great excuse to eat pie, and to appreciate how important the number pi is to math and science.

Pi is the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. Any time you want to find out the distance around a circle when you have the distance across it, you will need this formula.