Tuesday, 11 June 2013

(160256) 2002 PD149, GPS navigation

(160256) 2002 PD149 is a classical Kuiper belt object discovered in August of 2002. There is a prediscovery image back to the year 2000. It has a perihelion of 40.3 AU and an aphelion of 45.7 AU. It has a Diameter of about 210 km + 180 km.

A moon was discovered in May of 2007 and reported in August of 2007.


(160256) 2002 PD149 is related with planing the route for different passing through points in the map, like the puzzle solving and the time trial in the video game "Tomb Raider Anniversary" (PS2, 2007). This video game appeared in the year 2007 as a combination of the discovery of the moon of (160256) 2002 PD149 and the moon of (88611) Teharonhiawako.


In the video game "Tomb Raider Anniversary" (2007), if solving the puzzle and find all the artefacts of a level takes between two and five hours, in the time trial it has to be finished in only fifteen minutes or less, which is a great challenge. That can only be done by leaving off the artefacts (extra tasks), and overcoast, by finding the best route before start playing.

"Tomb Raider Anniversary" (2007)


Routes for hiking

In the year 2000, during the prediscovery of (160256) 2002 PD149, United States made a more accurate GPS signal available for civilian use, wich give rise to popularization of GPS navigation.


The discovery of the moon of (160256) 2002 PD149, coincided with a great support by the local councils, in signalling infrastructure for hiking routes.