2023-06-06 13:15:43
The US space agency (NASA) invites anyone who wishes to add their name for free to a list of microchips that will be embarked on the Europa Clipper space probe, whose mission is to investigate the biological potential of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. . That list will be accompanied by a poem written expressly for the mission by poet Ada Limón, an American of Mexican descent. The poem is titled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.”
The deadline for interested people to add their names to the list is December 31, 2023. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will leave Earth in October 2024.
The poem and the names of the people concerned will be like a message in a bottle thrown into the sea, accompanying the ship on its exciting mission to try to find out if the ocean believed to exist under Europa’s icy crust can harbor life. .
To add your name, use this linkwhich leads to the specific NASA web page.
The website also allows participants to create and download a customizable souvenir (an illustration of their name on a message in a bottle, with Europa and Jupiter in the background) to commemorate the experience.
The “Message in a Bottle” campaign is similar to other NASA projects that have allowed tens of millions of people to submit their names for travel aboard interplanetary spacecraft. It draws inspiration from the agency’s long tradition of sending momentous messages aboard spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond. In the vein of the Golden Record of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, currently flying through interstellar space, carrying on board a time capsule with sounds and images to communicate the diversity of life and culture on Earth to hypothetical aliens who someday find them, the new campaign aims to spark the imagination of people around the world.
Artist’s impression of the Europa Clipper space probe flying over Europa, with Jupiter in the background. (Illustration: NASA JPL/Caltech)
The Europa Clipper is currently being assembled in a special NASA hangar. The spacecraft will travel 2.6 billion kilometers to reach the Jupiter system, where it will arrive in 2030. Thereafter, it will orbit Jupiter. It will fly over Europa about 50 times, while a suite of scientific instruments collects data on that moon’s subterranean ocean, ice crust, and atmosphere.
The Europa Clipper’s main scientific objective is to determine if there are places below the surface of Europa that could harbor life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to gain insight into the characteristics of the ice crust and the ocean beneath it, as well as gain insight into the moon’s chemical composition and geology. Detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of that and other comparable worlds. (Fountain: NCYT de Amazings)
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