NASA made a public invitation that will give them the chance to have their names onboard a robotic spacecraft which will go to an asteroid and fly back on Earth.
The name-collection mission dubbed as "Messages to Bennu" is a rehash of the "send your name to space" program of the agency. The names which must be submitted before Sept. 30 will be flown inside the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REX) spacecraft.
The OSIRIS-REX will be used to gather samples of the Bennu's surface and bring these samples back to Earth using the capsule. The names, which will be etched in a microchip, will be included in a long-term orbit around the sun with the spacecraft.
Principal investigator of OSIRIS-REx mission from the University of Arizona, Dante Lauretta, said in a press release, "We are thrilled to share the OSIRIS-REx adventure with people across the Earth, to Bennu and back. It's a great opportunity for people to get engaged with the mission early and join us as we prepare for launch."
The program has attracted the public's attention based on the number of names submitted. To date, millions of names have been flown into different parts of our solar system in dozens of NASA spacecraft, not counting the duplicate flights released during multiple probes.
The earliest name collection program launched by NASA was launched in 1999. The names were put aboard the Stardust probe which went to the Comet Wild 2. Millions of names, including the 52,214 names written on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, were etched in two microchips, one in the return capsule and one in the probe's dust collection arm. Upon its return to earth, the Stardust microchip was put on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
Bill Nye, chief executive of The Planetary Society, the organization tasked to collect and process the names, said in the press release, "You will be part of humankind's exploration of the solar system - how cool is that?"
