Get your boarding pass to Mars: Photo of the Day 9/8/15

Dillon explains the InSight Mission to Mars and the Send Your Name to Mars program to her third period Chemistry class.

Olivia DuBro

Dillon explains the InSight Mission to Mars and the Send Your Name to Mars program to her third period Chemistry class.

by Olivia DuBro, Managing Editor

On March 4, 2016, NASA will launch another spacecraft named Atlas V 401, and it’s bringing citizens from Earth– their names, at least– along for the ride.

NASA is offering a special program called  InSight Mission to Mars, in which citizens from across the globe register their names to be added to a chip engraved with their names to send to Mars. Insight is an acronym for Interior Exploration for Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport. Unlike any other program NASA has created to investigate Mars, the InSight Mission will explore the interior of the planet to determine the evolution of planets. It will measure seismology, heat flow, and precision tracking. More information on the InSight Mission plan can be found on the NASA’s Learn page.

Mrs. Jessica Dillon, forensic science and chemistry teacher, first learned about the InSight program when she sent her name on the Orion EFT 1 ship for its first test flight to Mars. There were 1,246,445 different names submitted for the first flight.

As of today, 759,620 people from across the world have signed up to have their names delivered to the planet. Dillon has encouraged her students to be a part of the historic experience. Readers can learn more about which areas of the globe are sending the most names on NASA’s World Participation Map.

To create a mock travel simulation, those who register are offered a printable boarding pass. The pass is complete with the departure site (the NASA launch area in Vanderberg Air Force Base, CA), the destination (Elysium Planitia, Mars), rocket name, departure time, and the miles the trip will take (297,805,305). Journeyers will even receive ‘frequent flyer’ points from NASA.

“I think it’s great because it gets kids excited about science outside of school,” says Dillon.

The Atlas V 401 ship is set to arrive on Mars on September 20, 2016. The deadline to register is today, September 8, 2016!

Register for this incredible experience here.