Technology
Nasa scheme to send millions of people’s names on missions to Mars hijacked by pranksters
A NASA scheme to send millions of people’s names on missions to Mars has been hijacked by pranksters.
More than 11 million were on board rover Perseverance, which got to the Red Planet last week.
A panoramic view of the Jezero Crater on Mars from Nasa’s rover Perseverance[/caption]
The microscopic monikers are engraved on three fingernail-sized chips.
But Nasa’s offer to include more on future flights has seen jokers sign up Ivor Biggun, Hugh Jars, Wayne King, Amanda Hugankis and Hugh Cares.
Seven million have already applied on the US agency’s Send Your Name to Mars website.
Others issued one-way tickets include Darth Vader, ET, Piers Morgan, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Tony Blair, and The Martian film star Matt Damon.
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People have also submitted their mother-in-law’s names. One joked: “Nasa sending your name to Mars — good. Nasa sending your mother-in-law to Mars — better!”
Nasa engineers used an electron beam to stencil the Perseverance chips with letters thinner than a human hair.
They’re fixed to a plate featuring a graphic depicting Earth and Mars connected by the sun’s rays with a Morse code message: “Explore As One.”
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