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…
May 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
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.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Ooh- I can see how this could get really bad really fast…
May 5th, 2008 at 11:30 am
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?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I added my name and that of my kids to the mission. They (and I) think this is REALLY cool. Good job nasa!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Shouldn’t that be just “The Doctor”?
May 5th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Clyde - Thanks for that. I thought I was going to have to bust some geek-fu, but you took care of it for me.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I printed my certificate out on glossy photo paper and am thinking of hanging it in my office. Thanks for the tip!
May 5th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
@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.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
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
May 5th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Unfortunately from my family it was just me and my dog Badger who were interested, teh they’re just crazy!
May 5th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I wonder how many times Alice Cramden will be signed up for this?
May 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
LOLOL @ ABR… that was awesome.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
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!
May 5th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
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’
May 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
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May 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Cyde beat me to it. It should be “The Doctor”.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Great find–I submitted my entire family and we are GOING TO THE MOON!
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May 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
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May 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
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.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I got the kids name down, lol even if they wont understand what it is for a few more years.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
ABR beat me to it!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
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.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
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.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Nice!
This is the perfect Father’s Day gift for the nerdy Father! …… and his nerdy daughter!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
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.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
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)…
May 5th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
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May 5th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
“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
May 5th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
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.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I assume Kilroy has already been taken.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:17 am
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.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:10 am
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.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:00 am
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 — www.moonposter.ie
May 6th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Oooh…
First Name:
Last Name: Hmmm…
works…
First one to yell “XSS” wins!
- Reelix
r3ee4lix5@gmail.com (Removing 3, 4 and 5)
May 6th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Excellent Idea. Shoot for the moon!
I always do.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Makedonija na Makedoncite
I am still alive
May 6th, 2008 at 9:42 am
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?
May 6th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Hi! I did it but didn’t get a certificate. How does that come?
May 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I’m going to the moon! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!1!11!!!
@ABR: I signed Alice up too. And Ralph.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Oh, and the ß!+¢# who stole my man — and I hope they drop her off on the other side.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Hmmm…. Can I use SQL injection scripts, buffer overflow attacks, or server redirection?
May 7th, 2008 at 2:24 am
It is really exciting & interesting to us. Thanks a lot.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Hi!
Its cool… Hope it serves as lingua franca between us and aliens
Thanks really…
May 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
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.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Hi,
I think ,One dayI will go before that I plan to send my name
May 27th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
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