The host of the Command Line Heroes podcast, Saron Yitbarek, kicks off every episode with a sound-studded description of an occasion that units the stage for the subject of the episode. Sometimes it is a speech from Al Gore, and typically its the Mars Curiosity Rover touchdown.
In the ultimate episode recap, Yitbarek walks us by way of “how open source fuels some of humankind’s grandest projects.”
She begins with the Mars Curiosity Rover robotic explorer, which has it’s own Twitter account with four million followers. The account just lately tweeted an invite to all to go construct your personal Rover, full with open supply directions and code. The SGV Hack Group was the primary to take up the problem.
Wait, wait. Back up. The Rover is open supply. All of the software program and ?
Tom Soderstrom, IT Chief Technology Officer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains: “Why open source? For us, it was more difficult to make it open source. We did that so other schools could adopt it and build it. The bottom line is, when we release something as open source it’s cleaner, it’s tighter, it’s better documented. It has to be built to be extended.”
Those are daring phrases from somebody who ought to know.
“We look for, is there life out there? How did the universe originate? Where is it going? We’re trying to find Earth 2.0 —earth-like planets that one day we could inhabit,” says Tom Soderstrom. “It’s not meant to be a toy, it’s meant to be something real.”
Tom goes on to elucidate that every little thing in regards to the Rover is open supply in order that others will experiment with it and check out new issues. He’s excited to see what folks give you. “If I can think of something, someone’s already doing it.”
To wrap up the episode, Yitbarek digs a bit deeper into NASA’s relationship with open supply.
Listen to episode 8 of Command Line Heroes, and add the podcast to your record so that you simply’re prepared when Season three drops later subsequent yr.
