Want to be a part of space exploration history?
The University of Colorado and NASA are inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD that will be carried aboard a spacecraft that will probe the Martian upper atmosphere.
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is scheduled for launch in November.
The DVD is part of the mission’s “Going to Mars Campaign,” coordinated at CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
The DVD will carry every name that is submitted. The public is also encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three poems will be selected.
The deadline for all submissions is July 1.
An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.
“The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission,” said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at LASP, in a news release.
Participants who submit their names to the Going to Mars campaign will be able to print a certificate of appreciation to document their involvement with the MAVEN mission.
MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.
The public may submit names and messages at lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.