Mars InSight Mission

Skip Navigation

NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Performs First Supersonic Parachute Test

Martian Ridge Brings Out Rover's Color Talents

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

InSight scientists used a special "shake room" to demonstrate the differences between quakes on Earth, the Moon and Mars.

What Does a Marsquake Look Like?

What Does a Marsquake Look Like?

JPL's coverage of the Mars InSight mission is among the efforts that will be up for an award in mid-September.

NASA Racks Up Two Emmy Nominations for Mission Coverage

NASA Racks Up Two Emmy Nominations for Mission Coverage

The lander's robotic arm has successfully removed a piece of hardware blocking the view of its digging device in order to help with recovery efforts.

NASA's InSight Uncovers the 'Mole'

NASA's InSight Uncovers the 'Mole'

There's a new plan to get InSight's "mole" moving again. The following Q&As with two members of the team answer some of the most common questions about the burrowing device, part of a science instrument called the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3).

Common Questions about InSight's 'Mole'

Common Questions about InSight's 'Mole'

The spacecraft's robotic arm will lift the heat probe's support structure, providing a better look at the instrument that has been trying to burrow into the Martian surface.

InSight's Team Tries New Strategy to Help the 'Mole'

InSight's Team Tries New Strategy to Help the 'Mole'

Wind can be crucial to clearing dust from spacecraft solar panels on Mars. With InSight's meteorological sensors, scientists get their first measurements of wind and dust interacting "live" on the Martian surface.

For InSight, Dust Cleanings Will Yield New Science

For InSight, Dust Cleanings Will Yield New Science

InSight joins the rest of NASA's Red Planet surface missions, all of which have photographed either the start or end of a Martian day.

InSight Captures Sunrise and Sunset on Mars

InSight Captures Sunrise and Sunset on Mars

While their causes are still unknown, one of three shaking events looks a lot like the quakes detected on the Moon by the Apollo missions.

NASA's InSight Detects First Likely 'Quake' on Mars

NASA's InSight Detects First Likely 'Quake' on Mars

NASA's social media presence, the InSight mission social media accounts, NASA.gov and SolarSystem.NASA.gov will be honored at the 2019 Webby Awards - "the Oscars of the Internet."

NASA Social Media and Websites Win Webby Awards

NASA Social Media and Websites Win Webby Awards

After the mission's heat probe began hammering last week, it appears to have hit a rock. The team is analyzing data before they hammer again.

More Testing for Mars InSight's 'Mole'

More Testing for Mars InSight's 'Mole'

Nominees include four JPL projects: the solar system and climate websites, InSight social media, and a 360-degree Earth video. Public voting closes April 18, 2019.

NASA Garners 7 Webby Award Nominations

NASA Garners 7 Webby Award Nominations

Several members of the Mars InSight team accepted a proclamation on behalf of the mission from L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

InSight Lands Praise and a Proclamation from LA County

InSight Lands Praise and a Proclamation from LA County