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Rest in peace Neil. I hope that we'll see footprints on another planet or moon in my lifetime.
Nowadays there are more ways than ever to learn the basics behind programming, most of which I listed in a previous post. No matter what kind of work that you can do, learning the basics of programming can help you learn how to break a problem into logical, modular steps. Programming is a language, and it's a good tool to have in your toolbelt.
I'll leave it up to one of the masters, Adria Richards of But You're A Girl, to explain the benefits.
Photo via Mike Wall and Space.com shows Clara Ma, the originator of the Curiosity name
I came across a great article profiling some of the women involved with launching the Curiosity rover into space and landing on Mars. In particular, I love the following quote by Ann Devereaux, a flight systems engineer on the Curiosity team:
When she speaks about her job to young students, she tells them she hates math, according to a profile on NASA’s website. “Who ever said you have to like math to be an engineer?” she adds, understanding that a dislike of math keeps many kids from exploring STEM career. “What’s interesting are the cool applications you can do that need some math applied to them to make them work.”
It's not just about learning obscure, theoretical math - it's about applying math to real world solutions. This is something that I try to get across to the youth that I work with, but especially young women that tend to be more easily deterred from math than young men. Showing people the cool applications of math, instead of just problems and equations, is a much better way to get people excited about science.
Image from the Mars Curiosity Rover appears courtesy of NASA
I've had several conversations with people that don't see the point of sending a Rover to Mars. The criticism I've heard most is "what if we don't find the signs of life that we're looking for? Will the mission still be worth it"?
Yep.
Curiosity is essentially a full laboratory on wheels. It will analyze everything it finds, so we will learn more about the surface of Mars than we have ever known. As we yearn to understand the beginnings of the universe and where we all come from, we need as much information as possible, even if it doesn't seem obvious at this point. The knowledge will lay the path for future generations to explore the universe in ways that we could only dream of.
NPR has a great article entitled "Science is Sometimes Wrong, For All of the Right Reasons". From the article:
In order to move forward, a scientist must have the courage to take the risk of being wrong. You stick your neck out so that you can perhaps see a bit farther than the others.
