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.'"

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: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: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.