May 05 2008
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Send your name to the Moon
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is NASA’s next big mission to the Moon, and it will launch later this year. It carries an interesting suite of equipment: a camera that will have 50 cm resolution on the surface of the Moon (I’m hoping for Apollo rover shots!), a laser altimeter for mapping the lunar topology, a radiation detector to map out the radiation environment of the Moon, and more.
But there’s something else it can carry as well: your name. NASA is putting a microchip onboard LRO that will contain the names of anyone who submits them. Send them your own, or a relative, or someone you’re trying to impress.
I actually think this is a cute idea. It doesn’t hurt the mission, doesn’t add any real mass, but it can help inspire people about space travel and give them a sense of ownership. They even have a cute video about it (here’s the direct link).
Of course, it’s open to abuse as well…
That’s kinda neat. It gives the public a sense of participation that we normally don’t have. I hope it generates interest in the project.
Ooh- I can see how this could get really bad really fast…
50cm resolution won’t just give you rovers, it should give you some of the instruments left behind, such as the laser range mirror. If it catches the pixels right, it could even see evidence of footprints, couldn’t it? How big was the external lenght of those boots the astronauts used on the moon?
I added my name and that of my kids to the mission. They (and I) think this is REALLY cool. Good job nasa!
Shouldn’t that be just “The Doctor”?
Clyde - Thanks for that. I thought I was going to have to bust some geek-fu, but you took care of it for me.
I printed my certificate out on glossy photo paper and am thinking of hanging it in my office. Thanks for the tip!
@Rowsdower:
It is absolutely no chance of catching footprints. If something have resolution of 50 cm, thern something recognizable will apperar only if size of this object covers at least 3 pixels (ie 150 cm). So it will show only biggest structures left by humans on Moon - as white blobs. While being nice, it is nothing to fret about.
Already did that from another (science)site link.
Wondering if you’ve( BA ) been following the discussion about how hard it is to land a heavy payload on MArs?
Seems it’s in that weird place with too much atmosphere and gravity for an easy thruster landing and too little atmo. for a parachute landing. Tethers seem to be a more realistic possibility. See link:
http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07/17/the-mars-landing-approach-getting-large-payloads-to-the-surface-of-the-red-planet/#comment-19551
One of the solutions proposed is to use Phobos or Deimos as the base of Operations to drop a rotating tether to MArs upper atmosphere and drop a load on top of Mons Olympus. Cool idea, which would require a much more attainable tether strength than that required for an earth geo-sync tether.
GAry 7
Unfortunately from my family it was just me and my dog Badger who were interested, teh they’re just crazy!
I wonder how many times Alice Cramden will be signed up for this?
LOLOL @ ABR… that was awesome.
Hopefully we can identify some remnants of the Apollo Missions. But even as we do, the Hoax’ers will claim that it was done with Photoshop! But a resolution of 50cm is really incredible! The advantage is of cours that the moon has no atmosphere! I wonder if we can get such a resolution on earth with all this bad seeing!
I agree, I think this is an excellent idea to get people interested. Thanks for the link BA!
In Dutch we have the expression “Go walk to the moon” if you want to tell somebody to take a hike. Well the next time somebody says that to me, I can cleverly say ‘in a way…I’m already there’
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Cyde beat me to it. It should be “The Doctor”.
Great find–I submitted my entire family and we are GOING TO THE MOON!
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I did one for myself, and one for my brother who died last year and was an astronomy buff his whole life. Then I reached for the bottle of scotch.
I got the kids name down, lol even if they wont understand what it is for a few more years.
ABR beat me to it!
I actually did this before this blog entry appeared. Haha, I’m on top of things! Well, not really.
Without a working printer at my home (which I’m renting) I couldn’t print my certificate. Bummer.
Wow! At that resolution it should see the glass domes that Richard Hoagland has been telling us about!
I put both my kids’ names on it.
Nice!
This is the perfect Father’s Day gift for the nerdy Father! …… and his nerdy daughter!
Cool. I”m holding out for media coverage so when my family mentions it, I can say they are already on the list. Unless they don’t, in which case I’ll have to just say it.
Cool! I just signed up myself, and my family (both human and canine members)! So hopefully none of them mind going to the moon!
Though it’d be much cooler if it used that laser to etch all of the names from its microchip onto the lunar surface! Make the moon one giant Vietnam Memorial Wall (except, of course, without any of us having to die)…
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“50cm resolution won’t just give you rovers, it should give you some of the instruments left behind, such as the laser range mirror. If it catches the pixels right, it could even see evidence of footprints, couldn’t it? How big was the external length of those boots the astronauts used on the moon?”
It might not see footprints (the boots were roughly 14″ (35 cm) long), but it will definitely see the rover tracks. The LM descent stages (that were used as the launching platform) are about 20 feet (6 meters) on a side, and the stance (distance between the footpads) even bigger.
- Jack
Grand Lunar, did you at least save your PDF? You can always load that to a jump drive and have it printed somewhere else.
JBS
PS: Oh, and I put me, my wife, and kids, into the list.
I assume Kilroy has already been taken.
So now I’m on my way to Pluto (with the New Horizons probe) and to the Moon.
I guess Immortality is a microchip on a spacecraft heading away from Earth.
I remember the ESA doing something similar several years back with a probe to Mercury (or was it Venus?) - Except that you could also record a short message.
While the idea of sending names along with this mission sounds very positive indeed, will it generate a deeper interest in our Moon by those getting involved? So many astronomy enthusiasts become interested in pin-point objects millions — and billions — of kilometres away in our Universe, but ask them to study the Moon more, and the view they most end up with is that it’s just a greyish, boring old object with craters on it that photographs well. Still, this is a step in the right direction in highlighting our wonderful (and only) natural satellite, and I hope that the current (and forthcoming) lunar missions will generate a new generation of lunar enthusiasts.
John — http://www.moonposter.ie
Oooh…
First Name:
Last Name: Hmmm…
works…
First one to yell “XSS” wins!
- Reelix
r3ee4lix5@gmail.com (Removing 3, 4 and 5)
Excellent Idea. Shoot for the moon!
I always do.
Makedonija na Makedoncite
I am still alive
I suppose, if I can’t go myself, this is the next best thing. Besides, I’ve already sent my name out of the solar system (well, it’s getting there), so why not the Moon?
Hi! I did it but didn’t get a certificate. How does that come?
I’m going to the moon! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!1!11!!!
@ABR: I signed Alice up too. And Ralph.
Oh, and the ß!+¢# who stole my man — and I hope they drop her off on the other side.
Hmmm…. Can I use SQL injection scripts, buffer overflow attacks, or server redirection?
It is really exciting & interesting to us. Thanks a lot.
Hi!
Its cool… Hope it serves as lingua franca between us and aliens
Thanks really…
I did this for my son’s class many years ago for a different mission. The teacher handed out the certificates to all the kids and they discussed it as part if their class. They were all so proud their name was going to Mars and were looking forward to seeing the pictures of where their names lay.
Unfortunately the mission was the Mars Polar Lander.