Jupiter’s moon Europa is a celestial body that is thought to have an internal ocean containing twice as much water as Earth’s oceans beneath its thick icy outer shell, and it has been suggested that life may have formed there. is.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing to launch the Europa Clipper probe, a mission to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa, in October 2024. In this mission, a spacecraft equipped with a camera, spectrometer, radar, magnetometer, etc. will enter Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030, conduct close to 50 flyby explorations approaching Europa to approximately 25 km from the surface, and explore the interior of Europa. Plans are being made to explore the ocean.
[▲ An artist’s impression of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) unmanned spacecraft “Europa Clipper” observing Jupiter’s moon Europa (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)]
NASA is running a campaign called “Message in a Bottle” where you can put your name on the Europa Clipper probe. This campaign is recruiting names to be installed on the Europa Clipper along with the lyrics “In Praise of Mystery” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón for the mission. It will be engraved with an electron beam on a silicon chip about the size of a dime (17.91 mm in diameter) and then mounted on the spacecraft.
[▲ Image illustration of the campaign “Message in a Bottle” carried out in connection with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Europa exploration mission “Europa Clipper” (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)]
The deadline for applications is 23:59 on December 31, 2023, U.S. Eastern Standard Time (13:59 on January 1, 2024, Japan time). According to NASA, as of November 13, 2023, approximately 700,000 people from all over the world have already applied to participate.
A similar campaign has been carried out with NASA’s Mars rover “Perseverance”, but there are not many opportunities to have your name placed on a rover heading farther than Mars. Would you like to put your name on the Europa Clipper, which will travel 2.6 billion km from Earth to Europa?
The campaign includes a special website set up by NASA (https://go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle) You can apply to participate. When you access the site, enter your name alphabetically in the “First Name” field and your last name in the “Last Name” field, then tap or click “NEXT” below the input field. By the way, the lyrics written by Limón are also displayed to the left of the input field, so you can read them when applying.
[▲ Application screen for participation in the “Message in a Bottle” campaign. Enter your first name and last name in First Name and Last Name (step 1), then tap or click NEXT (step 2). The image was captured by the editorial department from NASA’s special website (partially edited to explain the procedure and protect personal information)]
When the screen changes, enter your email address in the “Email” field, your postal code in the “Postal or Zip Code” field, and select “Japan” or your region from the “Location” pull-down menu. Check the name carried over from the previous screen, and finally tap or click “SIGN ON”.
[▲ Application screen for participation in the “Message in a Bottle” campaign. Enter your email address in Email and your postal code in Postal or Zip Code, select the area where you live in Location (step 3), and tap or click SIGN ON (step 4). The image was captured by the editorial department from NASA’s special website (partially edited to explain the procedure and protect personal information)]
Once the application is completed, a commemorative image with your name written on it will be displayed. This image can be downloaded from “Download” shown below or printed from “Print”. You can log in and download this image at any time by accessing the “Check In” page on the special site and entering your name, email address, etc.[12:00, November 14, 2023]
[▲ “Message in a Bottle” campaign participation application screen. Once the application is complete, a commemorative image will be displayed (step 5). You can download and save commemorative images from Download (Step 6). The image was captured by the editorial department from NASA’s special website (partially edited to explain the procedure and protect personal information)]
Source
NASA – Message in a Bottle – NASA’s Europa ClipperNASA – Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA’s Europa Clipper
Text/sorae editorial department
