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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: 2) by mrchew1982 on Friday August 21 2015, @10:48PM
I think that what they're doing is putting your name into the "blank" unused portion of a silicon chip at whatever resolution the rest of the chip is at. If they print them that small there really isn't any additional cost, especially since they won't be proofing the names.