NASA has many space exploration missions to planets like Mars and Jupiter, and now the space agency is offering the public a unique opportunity to inscribe their name on a NASA spacecraft headed for Jupiter’s moon Europa. Project, called news A Bottle, launched in partnership with the Library of Congress, allows participants to sign their names with a poem by US Poet Laureate Ada Limon.
Engrave your names on a NASA spacecraft
By registering, your name will be laser-engraved into a microchip implanted in the solar-powered Europa Clipper robotic spacecraft. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in October 2024, and your name will travel 1.8 billion miles in about six years. Along with your name, Ada Limon’s lunar-inspired poem „In Praise of Mystery” will be inscribed on the spacecraft.
305,000 people from all over the world have already registered their names to be added to the Europa Clipper list. You have until the end of 2023 to add your name. Meanwhile, you can also watch live streams of the spacecraft’s construction and assembly.
About the Europa Clipper mission
Jupiter’s moon Europa has intrigued scientists because of its icy surface and the possibility of an internal ocean that could support extraterrestrial life. Although the spacecraft will not land on the moon’s surface, it will make several flybys to gather detailed information about its composition, geology and steam eruptions from the geysers.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will be about 100 feet long with deployed solar arrays and weigh approximately 13,000 pounds. Half of its weight is devoted to the propulsion needed to reach Europa. After launching on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, the spacecraft will orbit Mars and then gain momentum from Earth’s gravity before beginning a three-year journey to Europa. Once there, it will make nearly 50 flybys beginning in 2030 and send valuable data back to Earth, helping scientists understand the moon’s potential to support life.
Earlier opportunities for spaceships to have names
This is not the first attempt NASA It has invited the public to add their names to objects destined for space. Similar opportunities were offered to Artemis I, the Preservation Rover, and the InSight missions to Mars. In 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 carried gold-plated phonographic records, including Bach and Chuck Berry’s „Johnny B. Goode” compositions.
So, if you want to make your mark on a historic NASA mission exploring the wonders of space, visit NASA’s website and log in!
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