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William Lager

Author of modern software, Jupiter on display: Your weekend reading list

Margaret Hamilton, lead Apollo software engineer
Margaret Hamilton, lead Apollo software engineer, standing next to listings of the actual Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) source code, on Jan. 1, 1969.
NASA

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The images released by the Apollo Archive have been spectacular, and the systems that made it all work are no less amazing.

This weekend, learn about Margaret Hamilton, the lead software engineer of one of those systems, the Apollo Guidance Computer designed to guide the spacecraft to the moon and back. Hamilton actually coined the term "software engineer."

Combined image of Pluto
This high resolution image captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). The bright expanse is the western lobe of the "heart," informally called Sputnik Planum, which has been found to be rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ices.
NASA | JHUAPL | SwRI

Also this week, watch the video NASA stitched together from the Hubble Space Telescope annual Jupiter snapshots; see Saturn's moon, Enceladus; hear Bill Gates' idea for nuclear energy and learn about the most prolific Wikipedia editor.

Read this

• Her code got humans on the moon — and invented software itself

We often think of the Apollo program as giant machines, pillars of flame and crackling radio signals, but the software, and even the very principles of that software, were just as groundbreaking.

This work was done by Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer code that pioneered concepts like asynchronous computing and instant reboots. via Wired

• The most prolific editor on Wikipedia

Meet Wikipedia editor Justin Anthony Knapp — and hear why, in addition to his regular job and his two volunteer jobs, he is the editor with the most edits.

A leader among the more than 125,000 "active" editors that volunteer to keep Wikipedia accurate, Knapp talks about what Wikipedia means to him and why he is involved. via Priceonomics

• Raiders of the Lost Web

If a Pulitzer-nominated 34-part series of investigative journalism can vanish from the web, anything can. via The Atlantic

• Closest northern views of Saturn's moon Enceladus

North pole of Enceladus
Thin cracks cross over the north pole of Enceladus. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft's narrow-angle camera from a distance of 4,000 miles.
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Space Science Institute

While New Horizons has been furiously returning data on Pluto, NASA's Cassini has begun transmitting images of Enceladus, the 6th largest moon of Saturn.

Enceladus is a tiny moon, roughly 500 miles in diameter, covered in ice with what appear to be "curtain eruptions" of icy particles. via NASA

• Pluto as we know it now: NASA report unwraps enigma of dwarf planet

While NASA has been releasing spectacular images of the Pluto fly-by, scientists have been analyzing the data being sent back to create a full picture of the seen and unseen of the icy dwarf planet and its moons. via The Guardian & NASA

Watch this

• Hubble's planetary portrait captures new changes in Jupiter's Great Red Spot

via NASA

• The company determined to fix nuclear energy

TerraPower is one of Bill Gates' biggest bets in the search for an energy miracle. via The Atlantic