NASA released a ton of software for free and here’s some you should try
NASA has just published
its 2017-2018 software catalog, which lists the many apps, code
libraries and tools that pretty much anyone can download and use. Of course,
most of it is pretty closely tied to… you know, launching spacecraft and stuff,
which most people don’t do. But here are a few items that might prove useful to
tinkers and curious lay people alike.
If you’re interested in a piece of software,
head to the link provided; it should provide the release or license type (some
things are limited to the U.S., for instance), a contact you can hit up for
more info and sometimes a dedicated site for the app or service.
Flying around looking at things, NASA style
Say you’re building a drone or satellite from
scratch. I mean, why not? You may want to start with the Consultative Committee for Space Data
Systems File Delivery Protocol, a standard tool for getting large
files to and from spacecraft. File integrity is sexy.
Once you’ve got the imagery on the ground,
you might want to put it through PixelLearn, which lets you
set rules about certain pixels and patterns, letting the program automatically
find and categorize things like craters, buildings and so on. If it’s fancy
multi-spectral imagery, consider snatching the self-explanatory Lossless Hyper-/Multi-Spectral Data
Compression Software, as well, and you may also want JPL’s Stereo Vision Software Suite to
help set up stereoscopic cameras. Use Video Image Stabilization and
Registration to keep things steady under turbulence.
Of course, you’ll have prepared for that
turbulence with Cart3D,
also known as Automated Triangle Geometry Processing for Surface Modeling and
Cartesian Grid Generation. It helps visualize fluid dynamics problems.
When it’s time for the bird to come back to
the Earth, the Autonomous
Precision Landing Navigation System might come in handy. It combines
camera images with elevation maps using methods “employed by cruise missiles
for decades,” although you don’t hear a lot about safe landings by cruise
missiles.
If you’re putting together a flock of drones
or a constellation of satellites, there’s the Formation Flying System for UAVs and
Satellites; it’s a mesh communication architecture that lets
multiple vehicles (of multiple types) operate in tandem and maintain a
formation.
Exploring the planets, NASA style
But perhaps your inclinations lean more
toward simulating and exploring the planet and solar system. No worries, NASA
has you there, too.
There are Global Reference Atmospheric Models
for Earth, Mars, Venus and Neptune. And Titan, for some reason. These models
are not toys, but they might help if you’re planning an off-planet excursion
and need to know exact pressures and temperatures somewhere. Venus probably
hasn’t changed much in the last decade or two but the Earth one has been
updated to 2016, the hottest year on record.
For something a little more practical, you
might try the NASA
Forecast Model Web, which does a bit more of the work for you, or
the Worldview Satellite Imagery Browsing and
Downloading Tool, which is a way to navigate the tons of Earth
imagery coming from NASA satellites. You’ll get the latest shots as early as 4
hours after they’re taken, which is pretty amazing.
HazPop
is a full-on iOS app that lets you browse through a constantly updated
worldwide database of natural hazards like fires, storms and earthquakes, and combine
that with data on populations to determine the number affected, range of people
who could come to aid and so on.
If you’re a conspiracy theorist who thinks
they can prove the existence of Planet X, Nemesis, the Black Knight or any
other crypto-object in the solar system, make it so with SNAP, “an N-body high-fidelity
propagation program that can model the trajectories of the planets, the Sun,
and virtually any natural satellite in the solar system.” Probably not super
easy to learn, though.
Hiring and evaluation, NASA style
Tell HR they’re about to blast off with
aerospace-grade hiring practices. First there’s the Integrated Cognitive Assessment Tool:
Combining Person, System, and Mission, which tells you whether
someone is capable of performing a certain job in space — or in sales.
Then, in order to be sure you’re not hiring a
klutz, submit them to the Fine Motor Skills iPad test.
It’ll prove they can operate a touchscreen interface without bringing the
company down. (In fact, this might be useful for testing prosthetic hands and
robotics.)
Never read a cover letter again. Just unleash
the Semantic Text Mining and Annotation
for Information Extraction and Trend Analysis Tool on the pile of
resumes you’ve got waiting for your attention and have it flag any with certain
combinations of “social media” and “guru” it might find.
Just kidding, but here are some anyone can actually use
There’s a neat Unity-based
Spacewalk game in which you or students can simulate various EVAs
conducted by ISS astronauts. You can play it online, on Mac or on PC.
NASA has a large collection of 3D models, images and textures that you
could use for education or personal purposes. All free of charge, naturally.
Glenn
Research Center: The Early Years is an iPad app that takes you on a
tour of this amazing R&D facility in a bunch of interactive media from
between 1941 and 1979.
You can check up on the latest coronal mass
ejections and magnetosphere changes with the Space
Weather app for Android.
Lastly there’s “Knife, Version 1.0,” which
“calculates the Boolean subtraction of arbitrary watertight triangular
polyhedral in order to make near-field sonic boom predictions.” Admit that you
need this in your life.
Link | https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/02/nasa-released-a-ton-of-software-for-free-and-heres-some-you-should-try/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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