To set foot on Mars for the first time will take many years for a humans. But the US space agency has invited people to submit their names at the NASA Mars mission. They can featured be on the next rover to the Red Planet in 2020.
People who want to send their name to Mars on NASA’s next rover mission to the Red Planet (Mars 2020) can get a souvenir boarding pass and their names etched on microchips to be transfixed to the rover.
The rover is all set to launch as early as July 2020. February 2021 is by when the spacecraft is expected to reach Mars.
The 1,000-kg rover would look for signs of past microbial life and examine the planet’s climate and geology. It will also collect samples for the return trip back to earth; Maybe some we’ll be able to explore the Red Planet.
“As we get ready to launch this historic Mars mission, we want everyone to share in this journey of exploration,” these were the words of Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington, DC.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California would use an electron beam to tattoo the names onto a silicon chip. The chip (or chips) will part of the rover. A glass cover cover will protect the chips.
On NASA’s insight mission more than two million names were etched. This took off on February 2018, giving each “flyer” nearly 500 million frequent flyer kms.
The last date to submit your name in the public mission is September 30.