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Buying tickets into space has typically been the reserve of governments and billionaires, but if you want to send your name on an interplanetary jaunt NASA might now be able to accommodate you. The space agency is now accepting submissions from members of the public who'd like their names recorded on a silicon microchip and shuttled to the Red Planet onboard the InSight Mars lander launching next year.
This is not the first time NASA has offered such a service. Last December, 1.38 million names flew on a chip aboard an unmanned test flight for the Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts into deep space on Orion Exploration Mission-1 that is expected to launch no later than 2018. Participants are given "frequent flier" points that provide them with alerts of future missions and a "boarding pass" in appreciation of their support of NASA.
It's not clear if submitting your name will guarantee its place on the chip, but you can submit it here.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Friday August 21 2015, @04:51PM
> Pretty awesome idea though.
Why?
Even sending the boringest bacteria from my colon, or some skin cells, would be a much more grandiose achievement than having some program code my name into bits to be sent alongside millions of others where no-one could read them, or give a [bleep] if they could.
And statistically, this one's going to crash anyway. Feel free to feel closely associated with it.
/grumpy
If you believe in Martians, don't put yourself on the Hit List.