Filipinos top NASA’s ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ signup

Romar Fernando

August 5, 2020

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  Photo Credit: NASA

  Have you been to space? Well, it’s fairly sure and history tells that there are few persons who have been to space.

  It was 1961 when the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. He made a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Also, in July 1969, when Apollo 11 blasted off carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins and landed on the moon in a Lunar Module.

  And just last week, on Thursday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched another sign up for those people who want to send their names to planet Mars on future missions.

  

  The launch of the sign up was made just a day before the kick-off of the latest Mars mission named “Perseverance Rover,” on July 30 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force station in the United States. It possesses 10.9 million names aboard. The “Perseverance Rover” is expected to land on the “Red Planet” on February 28, 2021.

  “The mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars,” NASA said. It was also said that it can collect samples from the most promising rocks and soils that is to set aside in a cache on the surface of Mars. Those samples is expected to be brought on Earth around 2031 for further studies.

  Submitted names will be etched into a microchip and will be on Mars in the future. With their recent space launch, NASA explained that engineers etched the names onto a silicon wafer or microchip. They used an electron beam “E-beam” machine at JPL that specializes in etching very tiny features which are less than 1 micron, or less than the width of a human hair!

  

  Photo Credit: NASA

  On the latest sign up of names for July 2026 mission of NASA, as of this writing, about 3,299,042 people across the globe have registered their names. Significantly, Filipinos reached the top spot having 2,087,982 registrants as of this writing.

  

  Screenshot from: NASA

  Netizens theorized that these over two million Filipinos who wanted that their names be brought to Mars simply symbolizes people wanting to go to the Red Planet as well. Others also speculated the reason on the poor response on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

  But above anything else, those who registered for this space missions can make names part of the space exploration history.

  To register, you can check NASA’s website and enter your full name, country, zip code and e-mail address. After you register, NASA will let download, embed, or print a souvenir boarding pass and your name will surely be on Mars on the next mission.

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