Beginning in 2016, Blink has had the extreme great fortune to work in close collaboration with NASA on dozens of projects, ranging from user research to understand how scientists use satellite data, to designs for visualizing satellites moving through space.
This week we were especially thrilled to see one of our recent projects get international coverage as the Mars rover landed, without a glitch, on the big red planet after seven months of space travel.
NASA’s Eyes team, located at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, is responsible for visualizing NASA’s space missions, the Earth, our solar system, and the universe.
Using the best available engineering data to produce real-time visualizations, the Eyes team produced a special product for the landing of the Perseverance rover, called Mars 2020 Entry, Descent and Landing, which takes you from orbit down to the surface of Mars.
The Eyes platform was developed and built in-house by JPL’s Visualization Technology Adaptations and Development Group, a small yet powerful team led by Jason Craig.
In collaboration with this team, Blink designed the detailed user experience, storytelling, visual design, and user interface for the robust, data-rich, and immersive application.
As part of Blink’s work, many of our team members spent time “on lab” at JPL and were able to stop by the “clean room” viewing deck to watch the Mars rover being built over the last several years.
It has been an experience of a lifetime and reminds Blinkers why we love consulting and working with such extraordinary clients. Not only are the great minds at JPL and NASA brilliant, but they are extremely generous with their time and expertise, and simply love their jobs. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and everyone at Blink is cheering for our rover and our friends who are celebrating all across NASA.
Bravo!
Photo credits: Karen Clark Cole and Peter Stern.
