Brains in a Bar: NASA Edition
Kicking off Pi Day the right way (rhyming was unintentional), we called upon all space cadets to accept the mission of solving a space-related word problem that involved the usage of the near 31 trillion digits that constitute the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The reward? A round trip ticket to a secret speakeasy in Tech Square, complete with complimentary cocktails (not freeze-dried, fortunately).
On a mid-week late afternoon in mid-March, we hosted our NASA edition of Brains in a Bar at Midtown’s The Office Bar, with seven out of the nine submissions receiving exclusive invites for correctly solving the word problem.
During the activation, conversations ranged as vast as the solar system itself, from theoretical trips to other planets to how Pi is used often at NASA to the future of artificial intelligence (AI), and so much more. Another hot topic was the upcoming exploration of Jupiter's most Earth-like moon, Europa. Although a majority of its salt water is frozen, there are high hopes for the possibility of life on this moon.
Not one to orbit away from thought-provoking questions, we also asked members if they would accept a one-way ticket to Mars, if they were for or against the potential of asteroid mining, and if they could list the order of the planets in our solar system from the sun. For the last item, the results were out of this world:
Clearly, the majority did not recall the mnemonic learned in elementary school. There were other learnings as well, though. For instance, we uncovered that community member Naveen Balaji, a PhD student with a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, has worked on space exploration craft design in the past! However, he is now working toward a degree in healthcare robotics to help make more of an immediate, positive impact on our world.
Nevertheless, whether our members are space aficionados or just starting to gain momentum, the topic piqued the interest of many, with more conversations and connections to come!
Can you list all of the planets in our solar system in the correct order? Let us know in the comments below.