Image Credit: NASA
Interested in getting your name known as one of the first to visit Mars?
NASA is offering a limited-time opportunity to submit your name to the list that will ride along with their newest Mars rover. The names will be stenciled on chips and boarded inside the 1-ton rover. It will also provide the name owner a souvenir boarding pass as well as ‘frequent flyer’ points. NASA hopes that the public will be more engaged with the space agency’s missions.
The currently unnamed rover’s goal is to search for any sign of microbial life on Mars that will provide a deeper insight into the planet’s climate and geology. Through these samples, NASA’s scientists are hoping that they’ll be able to allow humans to explore the Red Planet.
“As we get ready to launch this historic Mars mission, we want everyone to share in this journey of exploration,” NASA’s associate administrator for Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen says. “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 rover is expected to launch as early as July 2020, and will apparently arrive on Mars in February 2021.
