Did You Know? Indians Beat US, China In NASA Campaign To Send Their Names To Mars

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s recent campaign to send individual’s names to Mars has been attracting a very good response from across the globe. Indians have also participated in the NASA campaign and according to data on the space giant’s official website, we have surpassed countries like the US and China in the list. No, we are not kidding. Over 13 lakh Indians have shown interest in the campaign and only Turkey is ahead of India with over 25 lakh applications.

The United States is at third spot with over 10 Lakh applications followed by Iran, China, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Israel, and South Korea.

People are very interested in sending their names to Mars (Image Credit: NASA) 

WHAT IS THE CAMPAIGN?

NASA has announced that people can send their names to the Red planet aboard its Mars Rover 2020. The names will be placed on a microchip that will be sent with a rover on the next mission to Mars. “When our #Mars2020 rover lands on the Red Planet in 2021, it will carry a microchip etched with the names of millions of people from planet Earth. Is yours on it? There are 20 days left to get your boarding pass and fly your name on our rover,” NASA tweeted.

ALSO READ: NASA gives you an opportunity to send your name on Mars: Here’s direct link

“The mission is timed for a launch opportunity in July 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. That is, it takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits,” says NASA. It will be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The rover is scheduled to launch as early as July next year and the spacecraft is expected to touch down on the red planet in February 2021 and the mission will go on for at least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days).

It's still not too late to send your name to Mars! (Image Credit: NASA)

HOW TO APPLY FOR CAMPAIGN?

NASA has shared a link on its official website or you can CLICK HERE to directly visit the page. Provide all the information on the page for registration, which is “subject to review”. One successful review, NASA will issue a boarding pass with your name on it.

ABOUT MARS ROVER 2020

The size of Mars 2020 rover almost like a car - about 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide, and 7 feet tall (about 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall). However, it weighs less than a compact car i.e. 2,314 pounds (1,050 kilograms),

The rover - a robotic scientist – will be trying to find information about Martian geology, atmosphere, environmental conditions, and potential biosignatures.