{"id":772784,"date":"2023-11-13T13:01:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=772784"},"modified":"2023-11-13T13:01:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:01:15","slug":"time-is-running-out-to-add-your-name-to-nasas-europa-clipper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=772784","title":{"rendered":"Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper"},"content":{"rendered":"
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3 min read<\/p>\n

Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\"“Message<\/figure>
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The \u201cMessage in a Bottle\u201d campaign offers everyone the opportunity to have their name stenciled onto a microchip bearing U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Lim\u00f3n\u2019s \u201cIn Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.\u201d The chip will ride aboard NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter and its moon Europa.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Six weeks remain for you to add your name to a microchip that will ride aboard the spacecraft as it explores Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not every day that members of the public have the chance to send their names into deep space beyond Mars, all the way to Jupiter and its moon Europa. But with NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper<\/a>, you have that opportunity: Names will ride aboard the spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to this icy moon, where an ocean hides beneath a frozen outer shell. The deadline to join the mission\u2019s \u201cMessage in a Bottle<\/a>\u201d campaign is only six weeks away. The campaign closes at 11:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

So far, about 700,000 names<\/a> have been submitted. Once all the names have been gathered, technicians in the Microdevices Laboratory<\/a> at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will use an electron beam to stencil them onto a dime-size silicon microchip. Each line of text is smaller than 1\/1000th the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).<\/p>\n

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See how your name will be stenciled onto a dime-size microchip at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This video takes you into the Microdevices Laboratory. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chip will be attached to a metal plate engraved with the original poem \u201cIn Praise of Mystery<\/a>,\u201d written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Lim\u00f3n to celebrate the mission. Riding on the exterior of the spacecraft, the poem and names will be like a message in a bottle as they make about 50 close flybys of the ocean world.<\/p>\n

The mission will log a half-billion miles (800 million kilometers) during these orbits as the spacecraft\u2019s payload of science instruments<\/a> gathers data on Europa\u2019s subsurface ocean, icy crust, and atmosphere to determine if the moon could support life.<\/p>\n

Once assembly of Europa Clipper has been completed at JPL, the orbiter will be shipped to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October 2024 launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cMessage in a Bottle\u201d draws from NASA\u2019s long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond. The program aims to spark the imaginations of people around the world as the Voyager spacecraft did in 1977 by sending a time capsule<\/a> of sounds and images reflecting the diversity of life on Earth.<\/p>\n

To sign, read the poem, and hear Lim\u00f3n recite it in an animated video, go to:<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/MessageInABottle<\/a><\/p>\n

The site also enables participants to create and download a customizable souvenir \u2013 an illustration of your name on a message in a bottle against a rendering of Europa and Jupiter \u2013 to commemorate the experience. Participants are encouraged to share their enthusiasm on social media using the hashtag #SendYourName.<\/p>\n

More About the Mission<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Europa Clipper\u2019s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter\u2019s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission\u2019s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon\u2019s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission\u2019s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.<\/p>\n

Find more information about Europa here:<\/p>\n

europa.nasa.gov<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen Fox \/ Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 \/ 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

2023-166<\/p>\n

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