NASAs Pi Day Challenge includes the release of 4 science and engineering concerns related to NASA missions. Responses will be revealed on March 15. Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech
To commemorate Pi Day, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory is serving up a series of science and engineering concerns connected to a few of the agencys Earth and area missions.
Its deliciously reliable, like cherry pie: Divide the circumference of any circle in the universe by its diameter, and you will constantly get the same number, pi, aka the Greek letter p. In truth, NASA relies on pi for all sorts of applications.
Though it has a boundless variety of decimals, the mathematical constant is usually abbreviated to 3.14, which is why Pi Day is commemorated on March 14. To mark the occasion this year, the STEM engagement office at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has released a quartet of illustrated science and engineering concerns related to NASA missions: the upcoming Lunar Flashlight and SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) objectives, in addition to InSight and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).
For example, one problem issues Lunar Flashlights mission to look for water ice in permanently shadowed craters on the Moon– an important resource for future crewed objectives to the lunar surface. The little spacecraft will send infrared laser pulses to the Moons surface area and measure how much light is shown back. For the NASA Pi Day Challenge, problem-solvers can utilize pi to find out just how much area will be measured in a single pulse of Lunar Flashlights lasers.
Answers to all 4 difficulty questions will be made public on March 15.
Required another serving? Previous years difficulty questions are online.
Now in its ninth year, the NASA Pi Day Challenge is accompanied by other pi-related resources for educators, K-12 trainees and parents, including lessons and teachable minutes, posts, downloadable posters, and web/mobile backgrounds.