Whether you are a space geek or not, you can’t deny that space exploration is an interesting topic. Even when an astronaut simply goes out into space to fix something on the international space station, Americans are watching it on the television. With NASA’s HD application for the iPad (free) you can stay on top of the latest NASA news and maybe learn something along the way. While the UI might not be the most intuitive, it is packed with information.
The main screen is a beautiful diagram of the planets and sun. You can tap on a planet to learn about it, or simply navigate to another part of the app. There are navigation buttons at the top and bottom of the screen. The main feature at the top of the page is basically a navigation tab for the NASA web site. When you tap on a section, that part of the web site appears on screen. Obviously, this is nothing special, as you can do the same thing with the iPad’s web browser.
There are several additional features of the app that are fairly interesting. You can watch a live stream of NASA TV, including a video section of previously recorded shows. You can view a ton of NASA-related photos, and share them via Twitter, Facebook and email. You can also save them to your camera roll. There is also an area that allows you to learn about different satellites that are orbiting in space. You can also track their location in real time.
With all the available features of the app, it would be nice to have some sort of guided tour the first time you use it. Sometimes it’s tough to understand what a specific button does, or what a certain area is for. Just like space exploration, I guess, you need to explore the app on your own to truly understand it. As a free application, it’s definitely worth checking out. However, I’m not sure you’ll get much more out of it than the NASA web site already offers.
