If you are an astronomy and space travel enthusiast, your name could be one of more than two million names sent by NASA on a spacecraft heading to Jupiter’s moon Europa, as part of the “Message in a Bottle” project, which will be printed on chips. Minute affixed to the spacecraft alongside a poem by American poet Ada Lemon.
How do you make your name travel to space?
According to the agency’s official website,NASA», The poem was engraved on NASA’s Europa Clipper robotic spacecraft along with the names of the participants. Together, the poem and names will travel a distance of 1.8 billion miles on Europa Clipper’s journey to the Jupiter system, scheduled to launch in October 2024, and by 2030, it will be in orbit. Around Jupiter, over several years, the spacecraft will conduct dozens of flybys near Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, collecting detailed measurements to determine whether the moon has conditions suitable for life.
Once the names are compiled, technicians in the Micro Instrumentation Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will use an electron beam to draw them on a tiny silicon chip the size of a dime, each line of text smaller than 1/1,000 the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft’s sensitive electronics are housed in an aluminum-zinc alloy vault to protect the electronics from Jupiter’s intense radiation belts, as well as a tantalum metal plate closing a hole in the vault. The inward-facing side of the metal plate will be engraved with the phrase “In Praise of Mystery: Ode to Europe” by American poet Ada Lemon, handwritten by the poet, dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which invites people around the world to sign their names to the poem.
How do you send your name into space?
According to NASA, more than 2.4 million people have added their names so far, and your name can be among the names that travel to space with the spacecraft by following the following steps:
– Log in to the official website of the agency «NASA.., and then click on Send Your Name.
– The site will ask you to log in and fill out some data, including your binary name that you want to write on the spacecraft, then enter your email, choose the country, then press Sign On.
– When you register, the site shows you a message saying: “Your name will fly on the Europa Clipper spacecraft as it travels 1.8 billion miles on its journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa.”
– Once you register, your name is ready, but it is subject to a confirmation process from NASA agencyHowever, you can still keep your name written inside the bottle and share it with friends via social media platforms, and prepare for your name to travel on a journey into space.
