From time to time, NASA offers the public the chance to send their names into space as they prepare to launch a major space mission. The space agency has now come up with the same opportunity once again. You can send your name into space with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will land on Jupiter’s second Galilean moon Europa in 2030.
The names of the chosen people will accompany the poem “Ode to Mystery: A Poem for Europa” by American Poet Laureate Ada Limón. All of these will be printed on a microchip and set to travel in October 2024. If you want to add your name, you must apply to NASA’s website by December 31st.
From the evening of June 1, when the program was announced, to the time this article was written, more than 10,000 people added their names to this list. While most of these applications come from the United States, there are entries from all continents. In the United States, most names come from the states of California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
“With the Message in a Bottle program, we’re offering people the opportunity to be a part of the Europa Clipper’s journey, and we’re excited about it,” says Nicola Fox, deputy director of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. I love the idea that our names will travel through our solar system on the radiation-proof spaceship trying to unravel the mysteries of the frozen moon of Earth.”
NASA has organized similar programs in the Artemis I mission, which was sent to the Moon before, and in various missions it sent to Mars. While anyone is free to add their name, NASA wants to attract primarily children with this program, which it hopes will increase their interest in science.
5677
