Send your name to Mars now

Washington, Sep 8:

Do you wish to send your name on a mission to Mars? Do it now. NASA is inviting space enthusiasts to send in their names that will go on the next mission to Red Planet and the deadline is Tuesday.

In March, 2016, NASA will launch the InSight mission to Mars – a robotic, stationary lander designed to study Mars geophysics.

You can send your name that will be embedded on a computer chip aboard the InSight lander.

InSight is an acronym for Interior Exploration for Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport. The mission will launch on an Atlas V 401 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on March 4, 2016.

As part of a series of tests, the spacecraft was commanded to deploy its solar arrays in the clean room to test and verify the exact process that it will use on the surface of Mars.

It is scheduled to land in Mars’ Elysium Planitia (Plain of Ideal Happiness) on September 20, 2016.

Once on Mars, the mission is designed to last two years. (IANS)