May 11, 2024

Fly Your Name to Jupiter’s Moon: Join NASA’s Europa Odyssey

Taking part in the Mission
Up until now, about 700,000 names have actually been sent. When all the names have been gathered, service technicians in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California will utilize an electron beam to stencil them onto a dime-size silicon microchip. Each line of text is smaller than 1/1000th the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).
The chip will be connected to a metal plate engraved with the initial poem “In Praise of Mystery,” (see video embedded below) composed by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the objective. Riding on the outside of the spacecraft, the poem and names will be like a message in a bottle as they make about 50 close flybys of the ocean world.
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón composed an original poem committed to NASAs Europa Clipper mission to Jupiters moon Europa, which is believed to harbor a large ocean beneath its icy surface area. Told by Limón herself, the poem is entitled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa” and it connects 2 water worlds– Earth, yearning to reach out and comprehend what makes a world habitable, and Europa, waiting with tricks yet to be checked out.
Europa Clippers Goals and Legacy
The objective will log a half-billion miles (800 million kilometers) throughout these orbits as the spacecrafts payload of science instruments collects information on Europas subsurface ocean, icy crust, and environment to identify if the moon might support life.
When assembly of Europa Clipper has actually been finished at JPL, the orbiter will be delivered to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October 2024 launch.
NASAs Europa Clipper will swoop around Jupiter on an elliptical course, dipping near to its moon Europa on each flyby to gather information. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
” Message in a Bottle” draws from NASAs long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have actually explored our solar system and beyond. The program aims to trigger the imaginations of individuals worldwide as the Voyager spacecraft performed in 1977 by sending out a time capsule of images and noises showing the variety of life in the world.
How to Participate
To sign, check out the poem, and hear Limón recite it in an animated video, go to:
https://go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle
The site likewise enables participants to create and download an adjustable memento– an illustration of your name on a message in a bottle against a making of Europa and Jupiter– to commemorate the experience. Participants are encouraged to share their interest on social media utilizing the hashtag #SendYourName.
More About the Mission
Europa Clippers main science goal is to determine whether there are locations below Jupiters icy moon, Europa, that might support life. The objectives 3 main science objectives are to figure out the density of the moons icy shell and its surface area interactions with the ocean listed below, to examine its structure, and to identify its geology. The objectives comprehensive expedition of Europa will assist scientists much better comprehend the astrobiological capacity for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

The chip will ride aboard NASAs Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter and its moon Europa. Go behind the scenes in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to see how your name could be sent to Jupiters moon Europa as part of NASAs “Message in a Bottle” campaign. U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón wrote an initial poem devoted to NASAs Europa Clipper mission to Jupiters moon Europa, which is thought to harbor a vast ocean below its icy surface area. Narrated by Limón herself, the poem is entitled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa” and it links two water worlds– Earth, yearning to reach out and comprehend what makes a world habitable, and Europa, waiting with secrets yet to be checked out. Europa Clippers main science objective is to identify whether there are locations below Jupiters icy moon, Europa, that could support life.

The “Message in a Bottle” project uses everybody the opportunity to have their name stenciled onto a microchip bearing U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limóns “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” The chip will ride aboard NASAs Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter and its moon Europa. Credit: NASA
Six weeks remain for you to add your name to a microchip that will ride aboard the spacecraft as it checks out Jupiters moon Europa.
Its not every day that members of the general public have the chance to send their names into deep area beyond Mars, all the way to Jupiter and its moon Europa. However with NASAs Europa Clipper, you have that chance: Names will ride aboard the spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to this icy moon, where an ocean conceals below a frozen outer shell. The due date to join the missions “Message in a Bottle” project is just six weeks away. The campaign closes at 11:59 p.m. EST, December 31, 2023.
Go behind the scenes in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to see how your name could be sent out to Jupiters moon Europa as part of NASAs “Message in a Bottle” campaign. Names will be stenciled in small letters on special microchips that will ride aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to the icy moon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech