Officials from the University of Colorado Boulder have selected over 1,100 haiku that will be sent to Mars through NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN Mission.
Earlier in May, NASA released a statement encouraging the public to submit names and messages in the form of haiku (three line poetry) that they want to send to Mars. The messages would be carried in a DVD to Mars in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft. This initiative was undertaken by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and was part of their "Going to Mars Campaign". The contest was coordinated at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP).
According to the initial statement, though all names submitted would be mentioned, only 3 haiku were to be chosen and made into a DVD that would be taken to the Red Planet.
However, in a new statement, the University declared that more than 1,100 haiku will be carried by the MAVEN Mission to Mars.
Slate reported that over 12,530 entries were sent in from all around the globe.. An online voting system was put in place July 15 and people can continue to submit their entries till September 10. The top 5 haiku that received over 1,000 votes each included entries of British blogger Benedict Smith, and well-known American poet Vanna Bonta.
"The contest has resonated with people in ways that I never imagined," said Stephanie Renfrow, MAVEN Education and Public Outreach leader and the Going to Mars campaign leader in a press release. "Both new and accomplished poets wrote poetry to reflect their views of Earth and Mars, to share their feelings about space exploration, to pay tribute to loved ones who have passed on and to make us laugh with their words."
This is the first spacecraft that's been dedicated solely to study the Martian upper atmosphere and will work to uncover the history of water on the Red Planet's surface.
"This new campaign is a great opportunity to reach the next generation of explorers and excite them about science, technology, engineering and math," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from CU/LASP. "I look forward to sharing our science with the worldwide community as MAVEN begins to piece together what happened to the Red Planet's atmosphere."
Click here to read the top five haiku submitted.
