14 DAY TRIAL // After the shocking announcement that Apple Inc.'s former CEO, Steve Jobs, passed away yesterday night, October 5, the space industry and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are reacting to the news, honoring the memory of a great visionary.
Jobs was the co-founder of Apple, and through his corporation, he left a deep mark on the high-tech world where NASA and other companies involved in space exploration and associated branches work.
For several years now, equipment produced by Apple has been used at a number of NASA research centers, while astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and on former shuttle missions have been carrying iPods around to pass the time.
Employees at the Moffet Field, California-based NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) expressed their shock at the news above all others. The ARC facility, which is the home of the American space agency's supercomputers, is located near Silicon Valley, where Jobs spent a great deal of his time.
“We'll miss the innovation you brought to technology. RIP Steve Jobs,” ARC representatives wrote in an official message posted on Twitter. The Apple co-founder was only 56 when he died, after a long-time battle with pancreatic cancer.
“Your innovative vision inspired a world beyond its limits. You will be profoundly missed. Thank you Steve Jobs. RIP,” added Kepler Telescope mission scientists, also in an official Twitter message.
In addition to NASA, others were touched by Jobs' influence as well. For example, the founder of Mojave, California-based Masten Space Systems Inc., entrepreneur Dave Masten, was heavily influenced in pursuing a career in electronics after operating Apple's first computers.
“My first code was for the Apple II. I might have something in my eye. Goodbye Steve Jobs,” a Twitter message from Masten reads. At this point, his company is working together with NASA to create a new reusable spacecraft for American astronauts, as well as a rocket to go with it.
Jobs' demise was also felt deeply at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), in Boulder, Colorado, Space reports. The principal investigator of the NASA New Horizons mission, Alan Stern, said that the contribution the visionary brought to modern technology is beyond words
“Salute to a brilliant man who changed the world for the better, a true leader,” he said in a Twitter post. The mission he is currently involved in will reach the Kuiper Belt, and the dwarf planet Pluto, in 2015.