Arduino being used at NASA

A few days ago, Engadget shared news that NASA are Arduino in their projects. Seen in pictures, is an Arduino Uno connected to what is said to be a lighting display.

It’s an attempt to bring some sunlit consistency to space exploration, simulating Earth-like lighting patterns to help keep the crew alert and get them ready for sleep in the evenings.

Arduino simplifies electronics to a level that people of all competencies can use, thus reducing the barrier to entry. One of the benefits the maker movement enjoy is the speed and ease ideas can come to life.

It would seem that NASA want some of this goodness also, as this device was created for under $500 using off the shelf products, some of which you can find at Sparkfun!

Perhaps this is the start of a new trend, with big companies looking to easier low-cost solutions to do the same results of otherwise expensive and time-consuming development.

Of course it should be said that the only reason this is easy and low-cost is thanks to the open source nature of the project.