As a part of NASA’s latest exploration mission to Mars, it had launched a ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ campaign calling in people around the world to send in their names. In the latest news, NASA received 10.9 million names that are etched in the aluminum plate of NASA’s mission.
NASA’s latest mission to the Red planet is being called the Perseverance rover. Perseverance rover is a robot scientist that is designed to search for past microbial life, characterize Mars’ climate and geology and collect samples before returning to Earth that will propel the future human exploration to the planet.
Last year NASA launched another campaign called ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ where it invited people from all over the world to submit their name. It is said to have received 10,932,295 names that will be stenciled to three silicon chips that are as big as a fingernail using an electron beam. The chips are later mounted on an aluminum plate that is attached to the Persevrance’s aft crossbeam.
Apart from the 10.9 million names, an additional 155 names that were selected as a part of the ‘Name of the Rover’ contest will also be included.
Mission not affected by COVID-19
However, NASA said that the current coronavirus crisis will not stop the mission from proceeding. The launch will happen as planned. The launch is scheduled to be launched on July 17th and by February 18th, 2021, the Perseverance will land on Jezero Crater, the landing site on Mars.
The Mas 2020 Perseverance Mission is a part of the larger program that includes missions to Moon as a part of the human exploration to the Red planet. According to NASA, they will be able to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon by 2024 through its Artemis Lunar Exploration plans.
On Thursday, the United States reported a total of 81,321 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus with over 1,000 dead and close to 160 million people in the lockdown and with that, it has overtaken China and Italy and is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 in the World. As a result, the global economy has been hit massively.
