So when you were a kid (or last week or whenever) you wanted to be an astronaut and make a trip to the moon.

OK, you're no Buzz Aldrin or even Buzz Lightyear. That dream didn't work out so well, but how about if you could at least get your name to the moon.

NASA is now allowing folks to submit their John Hancock to a database which will be placed on a microchip and put on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft. The LRO will be in orbit around the big green cheese in the sky for many years.

According to a NASA press release,

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

That press release says the deadline to submit your name has passed, but if you click on the link in the release, it states they will still allow you to add your name until the July 25, 2008 deadline.

As future moon orbiters, you also get a pdf of a certificate announcing you're part of the mission.

Here's mine.

Io l'ho scoperto solo oggi ma l'iniziativa è in piedi già da qualche tempo :D
I nomi saranno portati dalla navicella spaziale Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) nel corso dellla prossima missione esplorativa.

Se siete interessati a questa promozione lunare del vostro nome basta accedere a questa pagina, inserire nome e cognome e stampare un vero e proprio certificato di partecipazione che potrete anche salvare in PDF.

Sembra che il database contenente tutti i nomi sarà inserito in un microchip della navicella spaziale, che dire "tentar non nuoce" ;)

grazie a Maestro Alberto per la segnalazione

Para que todos nos identifiquemos ainda mais com a exploração espacial, a NASA permite a submissão de nomes de cidadãos comuns sejam indicados, instalados num microchip da nave e enviados para a Lua.

Depois de um milhão de nomes, o prazo de submissão foi alargado até 27 de Julho.

Se você não tem milhões de dólares para viajar pelo espaço, faça o seguinte: envie o seu nome! É de graça e a NASA levará o seu nome para a Lua. A NASA pretende colocar os nomes na nave LRO, que promete ser o retorno triunfal da Agência Espacial Norte-Americana ao nosso querido satélite natural.

Eles mandam um certificado em PDF, que pode ser impresso em casa, e o seu nome estará garantido entre os astronautas "virtuais".

Até o NoReset se envolveu nisso! Estamos muito modernos!

Clique aqui e faça parte dessa viagem.

Cada Semana & Comentando la Nota

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Bueno, el sueño de todos de trascender a nuestra propia existencia siempre ha sido un deseo, que nos recuerden, que sepan de nosotros, que nos recuerden etc... y ahora se abre una luz para poder lograrlo de una forma muy sencilla, pero que parece sacada de un libro de ciencia ficción. Resulta que la NASA esta invitando a personas de todas las edades a unirse a un viaje de exploración lunar con la oportunidad de enviar sus nombres a la luna a bordo de la nave Orbitadora de reconocimiento Lunar (LRO).

El sitio web del envio de su nombre a la Luna, permite a todos tomar parte de la aventura lunar y colocar sus nombres en órbita alrededor de la luna en los años por venir. Los participantes pueden colocar sus nombres en; http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, imprimir un certificado al tiempo que la información es incluida en una base de datos.

"La base de datos será colocada en un microchip que será integrado en la nave espacial. La fecha tope para enviar los nombres es el próximo 27 de junio del 2008. 'Todos los que envíen su nombre a la luna, serán según creo, parte de la próxima ola de exploradores lunares", dijo Cathy Peddie, directora del proyecto LRO en el Centro de vuelos espaciales Goddard de NASA.

La misión LRO es el primer paso en los planes de NASA para volver a colocar humanos en la luna en el 2020, y su nombre puede llegar allí primero. "¿Qué tan fantástico es esto?" ella se pregunta. El orbitador comprende seis instrumentos y en una demostración de tecnología, proporcionará los datos más completos jamás obtenidos de luna.

La misión se centrará en la selección de sitios seguros de aterrizaje e identificación de recursos lunares. También estudiará cómo el ambiente lunar de radiación podría afectar los humanos.

LRO creará un atlas completo de las características de la luna y recursos que serán necesarios para los diseños que la NASA necesitara para la construcción de puestos de avanzada. La misión sostendrá la futura exploración humana al proporcionar una base para próximas misiones científicas. LRO esta planeada para ser lanzada a finales del 2008.

Éste satélite llevara una base de datos con el nombre de todos los internautas que así lo soliciten, el plazo termina el 27 de Junio. Aquí podrás rellenar el formulario, solo nombre y apellido, para que tu nombre sea grabado en el microchip y enviado a la Luna junto con todos los demás nombres.

A qué esperas?

NASA plans to setup a permanent base on the Moon, where it can be a stepping stone for humans to travel to Mars and beyond. This, however, requires detailed understanding of the lunar environment, including finding safe landing sites, locating potential resources and characterise the radiation environment.

And all these will be the jobs of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the Moon. LRO will focus on the factors for human survivals on the Moon, create a comprehensive atlas of the Moon's features and resources necessary to design and build a lunar outpost.

Scheduled for launch on 31 October 2008, LRO will take only 4 days to reach the Moon. It will first enter an elliptical orbit from which it will move into its final near-circular polar orbit, approximately 50 km above the Moon's surface. It is plan to be there for at least a year, collecting all the necessary data on lunar conditions.

Now, your name can fly together with this spacecraft to the Moon. NASA invites everyone to join this lunar exploration journey. Sign up here to send your name to the Moon. The database of names will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. By signing up, you will also receive a certificate showcasing your support of the mission.

The deadline is 27 June 2008. Do it now!

La fecha para mandar tu nombre termina el 27 de Junio del 2008

Ahora sí nos pueden decir que andamos en la Luna

Enlace: NASA Mision LRO Manda tu Nombre a la Luna

Andaba en mis vagancias de la red y me fui a asomar a la pagina-blog de los Diputados Federales. En la pagina del diputado federal Villarreal encontre un link a la NASA que ofrece llevar en un microchip los nombres de todos los que se apunten.

 

Aqui estan los links:

Explicación de en que consiste el proyecto LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

Página para enviar su nombre a la Luna, aquí. Fecha limite 27 de junio del 2008.

 

I've always wanted the honor of going to the moon; this is the next best thing. The names in the database will be etched into a microchip that will be integrated into the spacecraft. Let's hope the moon people use Intel chips, so they can read our names. 

I plan to enter my name tomorrow at work so I can print the certificate. At the moment, I am printer-less.

The only other recent honor is my successful completion of a bowl of 'Firebrand' chili at the local chili parlor, where upon completion of the bowl, and having been certified ambulatory, you get the honor of writing your name on the wall. Now you may have to rush back to work in a sweat, but still, it is an honor at least in the retelling of the event if not in the actual eating; sending my name to the moon will be a lot less stressful.

The LRO is the first step in NASA's plan to get us back to the moon by 2020. When they get there, they can kill time by checking our names; perhaps they will want to search for relatives from twenty years prior.

The LRO will carry six instruments, looking for safe landing sites and trying to identify useful lunar resources. A complete atlas of the moon's features will be created to aid in the development of a lunar outpost, sort of like the international space station, except it will be on the moon. LRO is being built at the Goddard Space Center and will be launched later this year.

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Is there a race heating up with lunar orbiters suddenly becoming the focus of several nations around the globe?

The Chang'e 1 is an unmanned lunar orbiter from China's CLEP that entered its one-year long lunar orbit early Monday. The $187 million mission is a key stepping stone in China's quest to develop a lunar exploration program that includes a lunar rover and a probe to return soil samples from the moon's surface. The spacecraft is named after the Chinese goddess of the Moon, Chang'e.

Only a month back, Japan completed the launch of its own lunar orbiter - Kaguya. KAGUYA consists of a Main Orbiter at 100km altitude and two small satellites (Relay Satellite and VRAD Satellite) in polar orbit. The scientific instruments on board the Main Orbiter will be used for the global mapping of lunar surface, magnetic field measurement, and gravity field measurement. According to JAXA, the name Kaguya was inspirted by the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

The name KAGUYA originates from "Kaguya-hime (Princess Kaguya)" in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari). and many people overlapped the images of SELENE going to the Moon on an exploration mission and Kaguya-hime going back to the Moon.

India is also planning its own launch of a lunar orbiter in April of 2008 - named Chandrayaan. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. Chandrayaan literally means moon-craft in sanskrit.

And finally, USA is planning to put the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter around the moon in October 2008. The first mission of NASA's Robotic Lunar Exploration Program, it is designed to map the surface of the Moon and characterize future landing sites in terms of terrain roughness, usable resources, and radiation environment with the ultimate goal of facilitating the return of humans to the Moon.

Space race or not, these missions do add to the nation's credibility for putting satellites in orbit. Apart from scouting for resources in Moon, these missions are also prove the technical merit of the nations involved, and could be a great source for technology exports.