Nicholas Mastramico

Everyone loves Legos, even structural dynamics engineers who work on the Space Launch System, NASA's newest rocket that will hopefully send astronauts on the first mission to Mars.

"I see working with Lego as a fun embracement of the problem solving process," Nicholas Mastramico, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, told Popular Mechanics in an email. "They are simple blocks and shapes, but if you use your imagination you can design almost anything with them... That's pure engineering—and with Lego you can do it at home on your kitchen table."

Lego Ideas/Nicholas Mastramico

Mastramico is currently working on structural analysis of the SLS that will use various sensors and equipment during a test fire to provide load-bearing data for the rocket. He also designed a scaled Lego model of the SLS in his free time, and now he's hoping that you will help him turn it into an official Lego set.

"Initially I simply wanted something for my own desk to inspire myself as I worked, but I've actually found it to be a great educational tool when talking to children about the SLS."

Mastramico's SLS Lego set is complete with an Orion spacecraft, a Mobile Launcher to stand the rocket up against, and a Crawler-Transporter to wheel the rocket around just like the real thing. There are also Legos to upgrade the rocket from the standard SLS Block 1 to the larger SLS Block 1B and Block 2, designed for heavy cargo payloads and sending astronauts out of Earth's orbit on the real rocket.

Nicholas Mastramico

To help make the SLS Lego set a reality, all you need to do is visit Mastramico's Lego Ideas page and vote for it—no donation required. After voting to make the biggest rocket in the world a Lego set (and why wouldn't you?), you can also enter a raffle for a chance to win the SLS set if and when it is produced.

Here's to a Mars mission, and a Lego model of the rocket on your desk when it happens.

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