Scheduled for a lunar mission later this year, Astrobotic’s compact CubeRover, about the size of a shoebox, will find itself with surplus computing capacity during its moonwalks. A remarkably successful crowdfunding initiative has enabled it to dedicate this extra processing power to a classic geeky challenge—computing the value of pi.

Astrobotic engineers noticed that the CubeRover would have computing time to spare and reached out to Matt Parker, a mathematician popular on YouTube and a stand-up comedian, to see if he had any creative ideas for using it. Parker, known for his unique approaches to calculating pi on his channel, quickly seized on the idea. “I think I hadn’t even finished reading the email,” he recalls, thinking firstly, “Pi on the moon”, and secondly, “Could this be a hoax?”

Once he verified the email’s authenticity and replied eagerly, Parker began devising his plan. He aimed to be the pioneer in calculating pi on the moon, but wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t just about crunching numbers on a remote computer. His strategy involves using lunar data collected by the rover to generate random numbers, which will then help derive increasingly precise values of pi. There are several methods to calculate pi using randomness. One method Parker is considering would have the rover generate random coordinates within a 2×2 square to determine how many points fall inside a circle with a radius of one, centered within the square. The ratio of these points approximates π/4. Another method might involve calculating the proportion of points within a three-dimensional unit sphere, or using the formula for a spherical cap’s surface area, drawing parallels to the rover’s own traversal paths on the moon.

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Astrobotic was prepared to undertake the project at no profit but faced substantial engineering expenses to integrate Parker’s code without disrupting the mission’s main goals. Parker needed $150,000 to secure a slot on the rover. He turned to YouTube and Kickstarter, appealing to his followers. Within just four hours, he surpassed his fundraising target. Parker was initially astonished by the swift and generous response but realized the strong sense of community among math enthusiasts played a big part. “Perhaps you were one of the few who loved math at school. If you didn’t pursue math professionally, you might not have realized how many others share your passion… [Now] there’s a thriving nerdy community out there,” he explains.

Will computing pi on the moon lead to new scientific discoveries? Not directly, but that’s exactly the point, according to Parker. “There’s a misconception that math must always be practical when in reality, it can also be purely enjoyable and accessible to everyone,” he asserts. He’s collaborating with schools on this project, inviting students who manually calculate pi to participate. Nearly 100 schools and over 2,000 students have already joined the initiative.

Andrea Davis, the project manager and lead mechanical engineer for the CubeRover at Astrobotic, is thrilled about engaging students: “I hope that seeing someone like me involved in designing rovers and sending things to the moon will inspire kids to think, ‘I can do that too. I can be a rover designer. I’m already part of it with the pi calculation project.'”