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NASA Needs Pi!

supersonic parachute design that landed NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021
NASA uses pi every day!

NASA uses pi every day!

Pi is instrumental in developing the size of parachutes to land on the Red Planet. In fact, pi helps engineers determine how big the parachute needs to be in order to generate the drag needed to slow down craft landing on Mars. It also helps researchers map and explore Earth and planets in our own and other solar systems.

In this June 2017 photo, the supersonic parachute design that landed the Perseverance Mars rover on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, underwent testing in a wind tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Want more? Have a Cosmic Piece of Pi!

Explore some of the many ways that NASA uses pi to explore our home and the universe.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames