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NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly Aboard Next Mars Rover
NASA ^ | May 21, 2019 | RELEASE 19-041

Posted on 05/22/2019 12:17:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin

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 flyer kilometers).

From now until Sept. 30, you can add your name to the list and obtain a souvenir boarding pass to Mars here:

https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020Pass

The Microdevices Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will use an electron beam to stencil the submitted names onto a silicon chip with lines of text smaller than one-thousandth the width of a human hair (75 nanometers). At that size, more than a million names can be written on a single dime-size chip. The chip (or chips) will ride on the rover under a glass cover.

NASA will use Mars 2020 and other missions to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. As another step toward that goal, NASA is returning American astronauts to the Moon in 2024. Government, industry and international partners will join NASA in a global effort to build and test the systems needed for human missions to Mars and beyond.

The Mars 2020 Project at JPL manages rover development for SMD. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. Mars 2020 will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.


TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; mars; nasa; spacex
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This might make sense if it were a raffle.

$100 an entry. Raise some money to help defray the mission cost.

1 posted on 05/22/2019 12:17:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

I’d pay $100 if they’d send Nanzi P. to mars,
or at least make the attempt.


2 posted on 05/22/2019 12:20:01 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: BenLurkin

Just one name? Barry, Cankles, NutterNan, Shmucky Schumer . .. Lots of Hollywood... Milano.... really tough choice.


3 posted on 05/22/2019 12:24:51 PM PDT by CaptainPhilFan
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To: tet68
💩-4-brains? 👹👍🏼🚀
4 posted on 05/22/2019 12:26:50 PM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: BenLurkin
"text smaller than one-thousandth the width of a human hair"

If there is microbial life on Mars, at least they might be able to read it.
5 posted on 05/22/2019 12:28:49 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: BenLurkin

They are sending up a housefly in the Mars Rover, and they want us to name it?


6 posted on 05/22/2019 12:38:58 PM PDT by rlmorel ("And she woulda made it, too...if she hadn't been wearing her Lucky Ham." RIP Tim Conway)
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To: BenLurkin

I bet Sheila Jackson Lee is interested in sending her name to Mars... and in us checking out the flag we planted there.


7 posted on 05/22/2019 12:42:48 PM PDT by C210N (You can vote your way into Socialism; but, you have to shoot your way out of it.)
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To: BenLurkin

I did that for the Sun probe.

They lost it.


8 posted on 05/22/2019 12:48:01 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: BenLurkin

9 posted on 05/22/2019 12:49:41 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: rlmorel

"They are sending up a housefly in the Mars Rover, and they want us to name it?"



Superfly!

10 posted on 05/22/2019 12:52:50 PM PDT by Songcraft
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To: BenLurkin

Awwww, I thought it was an opportunity to fill out the passenger list. My Bye, bye, Nabcy dream falls into the bit bucket.


11 posted on 05/22/2019 12:57:03 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (#Dregs #DeplorableMe #BitterClinger #HillNO! #cishet #MyPresident #MAGA #Winning #covfefe #BuildIt)
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To: Songcraft

Heh, now I have that song in my head!


12 posted on 05/22/2019 1:03:38 PM PDT by rlmorel ("And she woulda made it, too...if she hadn't been wearing her Lucky Ham." RIP Tim Conway)
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To: BenLurkin

Doctor Smith!


13 posted on 05/22/2019 1:10:30 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: BenLurkin
NASA is giving the public an opportunity to send their names — stenciled on chips — to the Red Planet...

I nominate "Baraq Hussein Odungo", stenciled on a cow-chip.

14 posted on 05/22/2019 1:23:34 PM PDT by rfp1234 (I don't watch CNN for the same reason I don't drink from the toilet.)
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To: BenLurkin

I submit Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.

Lets watch them grow potatoes in their own manure.

Come to think of it, the amount of manure they generate is an excellent reason to choose them.


15 posted on 05/22/2019 1:24:41 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: BenLurkin

What? And expose my personally identifiable information to the aliens??


16 posted on 05/22/2019 1:30:13 PM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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To: BenLurkin

Rovie McRoveFace?


17 posted on 05/22/2019 2:20:20 PM PDT by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


18 posted on 05/22/2019 3:26:10 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Who will think of the gerbils ? Just say no to Buttgiggity !)
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To: BenLurkin

One way?

AOC.


19 posted on 05/22/2019 3:28:16 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: tet68

And Hellary and zero and ... Heck, just line up the demonrats.


20 posted on 05/22/2019 4:26:16 PM PDT by bgill (when you badmouth women, you are badmouthing your mama and the good women on FR)
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