From now till Sept. 30, the public can submit
names to be stenciled on microchips that will fly on the
Mars 2020 rover and receive a souvenir boarding pass.
Although it will be years before the first humans set foot on
Mars, NASA is giving the public an opportunity to send their
names - stenciled on chips - to the Red Planet with NASA's
Mars 2020 rover, which represents the initial leg of humanity's
first round trip to another planet. The rover is scheduled to
launch as early as July 2020, with the spacecraft expected to
touch down on Mars in February 2021.
The rover, a robotic scientist weighing more than 2,300
pounds (1,000 kilograms), will search for signs of past
microbial life, characterize the planet's climate and geology,
collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for
human exploration of the Red Planet.
"As we get ready to launch this historic Mars mission, we
want everyone to share in this journey of exploration," said
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington. "It's an exciting time
for NASA, as we embark on this voyage to answer profound
questions about our neighboring planet, and even the origins of
life itself."
The opportunity to send your name to Mars comes with a souvenir
boarding pass and "frequent flyer" points. This is part of a public
engagement campaign to highlight missions involved with
NASA's journey from the Moon to Mars. Miles
(or kilometers) are awarded for each "flight," with
corresponding digital mission patches available for
download. More than 2 million names flew on NASA's InSight
mission to Mars, giving each "flyer" about 300 million frequent
flyer miles (nearly 500 million frequent flier kilometers).
From now until Sept. 30, 2019, you can add your name to the list
and obtain a souvenir boarding pass to Mars here:
Make your pass:
https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020Pass
My pass here:
