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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Venus _ Send your name to Venus on the Akatsuki mission

Posted by: punkboi Oct 24 2009, 09:02 PM

Deadline is December 25, 2009. Messages are optional

http://venus.star2009.jp/index_e.php

Posted by: dilo Oct 25 2009, 08:36 AM

Thanks for highlight, punkboi.
My msg is: "We have so much to learn about Venus!"

Posted by: nprev Oct 25 2009, 08:44 AM

Thanks, PB!

Cool; my first mission "name certificate" in Japanese!

Posted by: Stu Oct 25 2009, 08:50 AM

I was tempted to write "Give Venus Express a nudge to wake it up when you get there..." but decided against it...

LOVE these "Send your name to space!" websites, great way of getting people involved. At our exhibition at Kendal Museum ( http://oauniverse.wordpress.com ) we have left a sheet for people to write their names on if they're not online but want to add their names to things like this, so now they can all go to Venus, too!

Posted by: nprev Oct 25 2009, 09:48 AM

Couldn't agree more, Stu, and that's a genius idea!

My daughter (who sadly did not inherit even a trace recessive expression of my "space gene") was awestruck the first time I did this on her behalf. It diverted her attention from Louis Vitton purses & the Utah Jazz for a bit to contemplate things of greater import & historical durability, and that alone is a conciousness-raising experience for anyone.

Posted by: Stu Oct 25 2009, 10:41 AM

Well, we have our International Year of Astronomy Autumn "MoonWatch" this Tuesday night ( http://twitpic.com/m4u30 ) so I'll be taking names for this Venus probe sign-up there, too. I've had quite a few people asking me what "that bright star in the morning" is, so I'm sure there'll be a lot of interest.

Posted by: punkboi Oct 26 2009, 03:55 AM

It would be awesome if there's another Mercury-bound mission that allowed us to submit our names for it.

Once Akatsuki launches and (safely) reaches Venus, and Glory (flawlessly) launches next year, I myself would personally have my name around all the major inner solar system bodies except Mercury (Akatsuki at Venus, Glory around the Earth and LRO around the Moon, Kepler in heliocentric orbit near Earth, Phoenix...and hopefully Curiosity...at Mars, and Dawn at Vesta and then Ceres)

Still waiting for that next New Horizons-type opportunity, though...

Posted by: MahFL Oct 26 2009, 01:24 PM

I signed up.

Posted by: punkboi Dec 9 2009, 09:39 PM

The Planetary Society is now collecting names for Akatsuki as well...complete with a much better-looking certificate than the one the JAXA site provides...

http://planetary.org/special/fromearth/akatsuki/

Posted by: punkboi Apr 24 2010, 06:51 PM

Nameplates attached to Akatsuki

http://www.stp.isas.jaxa.jp/venus/index.html - 16 March 2010 (1) Update

Posted by: punkboi Dec 8 2010, 08:50 AM

If there's an upside to Akatsuki's unfortunate predicament, it's that at least it (and the thousands of names onboard) won't meet a fiery fate in Venus' atmosphere. Inevitable fiery fate by the Sun? Yes. Venus? No. (Assuming, of course, Akatsuki is unable to perform an orbit injection maneuver during the December 2016/January 2017 opportunity as well.)

For the time being, Akatsuki and IKAROS will obviously be in heliocentric orbit together.