Members of the public are invited to add their names to an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission before the spacecraft begins its
Members of the public are invited to add their names to an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission before the spacecraft begins its journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa in October 2024. The poem and the names will be like a message in a bottle, traveling billions of miles as the mission investigates whether the ocean thought to lie beneath Europa’s icy crust could support life, reported NASA.
As part of the “Message in a Bottle” campaign, names received before 11:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, 2023, will be stenciled onto a microchip, along with the poem, written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon and titled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.”
To sign, read the poem, and hear Limón recite the poem in an animated video, go to:
The site also enables participants to create and download a customizable souvenir, an illustration of your name on a message in a bottle against a rendering of Europa and Jupiter, to commemorate the experience. Participants are encouraged to share their enthusiasm on social media using the hashtag #SendYourName, reported NASA.
“‘Message in a Bottle’ is the perfect convergence of science, art, and technology, and we are excited to share with the world the opportunity to be a part of Europa Clipper’s journey,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “I just love the thought that our names will be traveling across our solar system aboard the radiation-tolerant spacecraft that seeks to unlock the secrets of Jupiter’s frozen moon.”
The “Message in a Bottle” campaign is similar to other NASA projects that have enabled tens of millions of people to send their names to ride along with Artemis I and several Mars spacecraft. It draws from the agency’s long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond.
In the vein of NASA’s Voyagers’ Golden Record, which sent a time capsule of sounds and images to communicate the diversity of life and culture on Earth, the program aims to spark the imagination of people around the world.
More information about Europa can be found here:
All Credit to: NASA
