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 |  Subject: What!? Venus Rover To Be Powered By 2,300-Year-Old Antikythera Mechanism?  Sun Mar 26, 2017 7:28 am | |
| What!? Venus Rover To Be Powered By 2,300-Year-Old Antikythera Mechanism?
March 26, 2017 by SkyWatch Editor
 After lying on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for over 2,000 years — an ignominious end for the first analog computer which was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses — the Antikythera mechanism is back in business with a new mission … to Venus. NASA announced that a group of engineers is designing a new rover around the ancient computer as a way to keep it working in the harsh Venusian climate. In simple terms, it’s a “automata.” Automata are purely mechanical, self-operating machines capable of performing sequences of operations and instructions. In this age of computers and artificial intelligence, why would NASA turn to such a primitive version for such an important mission? Longevity, says Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Jonathan Sauder, who proposed the idea in 2016 and recently received a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts grant to go forward with its development. (READ MORE) |
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