Continuing a series of opportunities to “send your name into space,” NASA is inviting the public to “join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the Moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.”
The Send Your Name to the Moon web site “enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the Moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at this link, print a certificate, and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is 27 June 2008.”
Talking about the project, LRO Deputy Project Manager Cathy Peddie said “The LRO mission is the first step in NASA’s plans to return humans to the Moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?”
The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the Moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans. LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the Moon’s features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.