NASA needs lots of help sorting through the hundreds of thousands of images they've collected from the surface of Mars. What do do? Make it into a game! Be A Martian combines the work of analyzing those images online with the competition of gaming. In this way, NASA hopes to enlist citizens to help with the huge project.
Link to story. Link to game. -via Metafilter
Nasa hopes the mix of real data and fun will also inspire the planetary scientists of tomorrow.
"We really need the next generation of explorers," says Michelle Viotti, from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which oversees Mars missions.
"And we're also accomplishing something important for Nasa. There's so much data coming back from Mars. Having a wider crowd look at the data, classify it and help understand its meaning is very important."
Link to story. Link to game. -via Metafilter
Newest 5 Comments
Do we get paid in Tang?
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Damn Silverlight.
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Bah. I'm already a Martian. I grew up in Mars, PA. :)
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The site looks really interesting, though counting craters and georeferencing images seems a bit easy. I tried both, and when I clicked on the "Done" button, the application didn't accept it, and my work was lost. Hopefully they get that fixed.
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Unfortunately, you must use MS Silverlight to take part. My Ubuntu box is out of luck :(
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