Mars InSight Mission

Skip Navigation

INSIGHT MISSION NEWS | November 3, 2017

More Than 2.4 Million Names Are Going to Mars

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, put the names onto this tiny 0.8 cm-square (8 mm-square) silicon wafer microchip using an electron beam to write extremely tiny letters with lines smaller than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. — Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, put the names onto this tiny 0.8 cm-square (8 mm-square) silicon wafer microchip using an electron beam to write extremely tiny letters with lines smaller than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Full image and caption

Bunny Suits

Last month, NASA invited members of the public to send their names to Mars. And the public responded loud and clear.

More than 1.6 million people signed up to have their names etched on a microchip that will be carried on NASA's upcoming InSight mission, which launches in May of 2018.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, reopened the opportunity after it proved successful in 2015. During that open call, nearly 827,000 names were collected for a microchip that now sits on top of the robotic InSight lander.

Classroom Boarding Pass — Students at Clinton Prairie Elementary School in Frankfort, Indiana, display their “boarding passes” for Mars. Their names are among the 2.4 million that will ride aboard NASA’s InSight lander, bound for the Red Planet in 2018.

Thomas Zurbuchen boarding pass

The grand total once a second microchip is added in early 2018 will be 2,429,807 names. Space enthusiasts who signed up this last round shared their downloadable "boarding passes" on social media, complete with the total number of flight miles they've collected by participating in engagement initiatives for other Mars missions.

William Shatner Boarding Pass

InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by listening for marsquakes. These quakes travel through geologic material at different speeds and give scientists a glimpse of the composition and structure of the planet's inside. The insights into how Mars formed will help us better understand how other rocky planets are created.

For more information on InSight, visit:
https://nasa.gov/insight

Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

You Might Also Like

The mission’s team has chosen to operate its seismometer longer than previously planned, although the lander will run out of power sooner as a result.

NASA's InSight Gets a Few Extra Weeks of Mars Science

NASA's InSight Gets a Few Extra Weeks of Mars Science

Dusty solar panels and darker skies are expected to bring the Mars lander mission to a close around the end of this year.

NASA's InSight Still Hunting Marsquakes as Power Levels Diminish

NASA's InSight Still Hunting Marsquakes as Power Levels Diminish

NASA and InSight leaders will share the latest on the pioneering spacecraft’s science findings and discuss future milestones for the mission.

NASA to Provide Update on InSight Mars Lander

NASA to Provide Update on InSight Mars Lander

Estimated to be magnitude 5, the quake is the biggest ever detected on another planet.

NASA's InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars

NASA's InSight Records Monster Quake on Mars

Among the missions are InSight, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Curiosity, all of which have been critical to expanding our understanding of the Red Planet.

NASA Extends Exploration for 8 Planetary Science Missions

NASA Extends Exploration for 8 Planetary Science Missions

The lander has taken measures to conserve energy; engineers aim to return to normal operations next week.

NASA's InSight Sees Power Levels Stabilize After Dust Storm

NASA's InSight Sees Power Levels Stabilize After Dust Storm

The missions will continue collecting data about the Red Planet, though engineers back on Earth will stop sending commands to them until mid-October.

NASA's Mars Fleet Lies Low with Sun Between Earth and Red Planet

NASA's Mars Fleet Lies Low with Sun Between Earth and Red Planet

The lander cleared enough dust from one solar panel to keep its seismometer on through the summer, allowing scientists to study the three biggest quakes they’ve seen on Mars.

NASA's InSight Finds Three Big Marsquakes, Thanks to Solar-Panel Dusting

NASA's InSight Finds Three Big Marsquakes, Thanks to Solar-Panel Dusting

Three papers published today share new details on the crust, mantle, and molten core of the Red Planet.

NASA's InSight Reveals the Deep Interior of Mars

NASA's InSight Reveals the Deep Interior of Mars

Scientists will talk about new findings in a question-and-answer session with the news media and public.

Journey to the Center of Mars With the InSight Lander Team

Journey to the Center of Mars With the InSight Lander Team

The spacecraft successfully cleared some dust off its solar panels, helping to raise its energy and delay when it will need to switch off its science instruments.

NASA's InSight Mars Lander Gets a Power Boost

NASA's InSight Mars Lander Gets a Power Boost

The magnitude 3.3 and 3.1 temblors originated in a region called Cerberus Fossae, further supporting the idea that this location is seismically active.

NASA's InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars

NASA's InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars