Astroprof’s Page

Names in Space

Published on May 28, 2008 at 12:12 am. 1 Comment.
Filed under public science.

Well, I am now on Mars. Or, at least my name is on Mars. Early last year, I wrote about a program sponsored by the Planetary Society to send names to Mars aboard the Phoenix Lander on a special DVD, “Messages from Earth.” Now that Phoenix is safely on the ground (it didn’t blow up on the launch pad, miss Mars, burn up in the Martian atmosphere, or have anything else disastrous happen to it) then the DVD is there, with my name on it. In fact, the DVD even shows up in this image taken of the Martian surface, showing some of the small rocks at the landing site and part of the lander itself.

This wasn’t my first participation in one of these sorts of things. My signature is also in orbit about Saturn aboard the Cassini spacecraft. And, my name is on its way to the asteroid belt.

Now, I’ll admit that this is a bit of indulgence on my part. For me, it is sort of a cool thing to do, but I am not going to print off the participation certificate and frame it, or any such thing. In fact, unless I mentioned it here, nobody would even know that I had participated in these events. But, I think that they serve a good purpose. This is the sort of thing that can get people interested in space exploration. After all, if we are to secure more funding for space exploration, we need to get more people interested. This gets them involved. And, we also need to promote science and mathematics among school children. This is a great way to get them involved. After all, a child who has even a little interest in science (or space, in particular) can get excited to know that their name is on board a spacecraft to another world. There are so many things that try to sap their interest. This is one thing that can help build their interest. Granted, this is entirely a public relations thing for NASA. But, with more people participating, they can point to all these names almost like a petition to support the space agency when it comes time to explain to Congress why NASA needs so much funding. That means that while anyone from any country can send their name into space, it is particularly important for US citizens to participate. In fact, it might be a good idea for NASA to include not just a person’s name, but also their home town. That would be something useful to show at budget time to a congressman who wants to be reelected.

Of course, this is not NASA’s first public relations message into space. The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft and the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft all had messages to extraterrestrials on board. But, in those days, only so much information could be sent into space. Everything had to be written large enough to read. But, eventually, information could be etched at a microscopic size, allowing far more to be sent. And, of course, a CD, DVD, or a microchip can hold information in digital form with even greater density. That permits hundreds of thousands and even millions of names to be sent, along with all sorts of other messages.

But for those of you who haven’t sent your names into space, yet, there are still a couple of opportunities to do so. One is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is supposed to launch later this year. The Planetary Society is sponsoring that project, too. Names submitted will be on a microchip attached to the spacecraft. But, the deadline for that is only a month away, June 27, so don’t fool around too long before you submit your name to go to the Moon.

Another opportunity to send your name into space is with the Kepler Mission, a spacecraft that is designed to search for more Earth-like extrasolar planets than have been seen before. The SETI Institute is helping with that one. You can submit your name here. The names will be collected and sent along on a DVD. But, this program also allows you to send along a short message if you would like. You are encouraged to say why you think the Kepler Mission is important. I like this idea. It is not just a list of names. But, one other thing that I like is that the submission form also asks where the person submitting the name is from. That is what I had suggested earlier might be a useful statistic. Of course, this is user volunteered information, and it is not verified, but it could still be useful in showing just how important space exploration is to people around the world (and in various states when talking to senators and congressional representatives).