Send Your Name to the Moon!
NASA is preparing its Lunar-Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. The orbiter is being built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, which interests us because it's not far from here and we have friends who work there. The orbiter is apparently nearing complete and is to be launched no earlier than 24 November 2008. (That sort of launch-date specification may sound odd, but to anyone who's worked on a NASA project it should sound rather sensible.)
The broad goal of the mission is to "prepare for and support future human exploration of the Moon." They're interested in things like locating good landing spots, characterizing the radiation environment (radiation is an obsession with manned-mission planners), charting the terrain of the moon, study the mineralogy, and such things. The website is filled with informative details if you want to know more.
The thing that attracted my attention is the "Send Your Name to the Moon!" gimmick. Fill out the form before 27 June 2008 with your name and they promise to put your name in the spacecraft.*
There is instant gratification too: fill out the form and press the confirmation button and you get an immediate PDF of a "Certificate of Participation". My certificate number is 1179285; Isaac's number is 1179388.
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*One imagines that they will probably "write" the names onto a [radiation hardened!] ROM chip in some form or another, but still, it's the thought that counts, right? Besides, the goal is to generate some enthusiasm, interest, and awareness, so lighten up!