NASA boffins may just carve your name on a chip and send it to Mars if you ask nicely

NASA is giving you the chance to send your name off into space. It will be engraving millions of names onto a tiny silicon chip by using an electron beam over a ready-made stencil and booting it off to the Red Planet onboard its Mars 2020 rover. Any extraterrestrial life will have a hard time trying to read the ruddy thing …

[Little Mouse]

My name's in Space already

Beamed out in Morse code more years ago now than I care to remember.

[Uncle Slacky]

Re: My name's in Space already

MIne too - my signature is engraved somewhere on the Huygens probe.

[Rich 11]

Re: My name's in Space already

I had a birthday greeting read out on ATV's Romper Room when I was little, so my name has already travelled almost 52 light years. Thanks, Mum!

[Blockchain commentard]

Postcode, country, email address? Sounds a bit iffy if they're only putting your name in space.

[Martin Summers]

Don't worry, there's more than likely a tick box to say you don't want your details shared with Martian marketing companies. I don't think they or all of the US have GDPR style controls yet. I'm not quite sure what the Martians could interest me in but I for one welcome extra terrestrial junk mail.

[Jamesit]

The email is needed so Martian Buddy can let you know what you've won.

[Francis Boyle]

If amanfrommars is involved you won't even understand what they're offering.

[Evil Auditor]

Martian marketing companies? That's what they might call it. But we all know that chip will be the hit list for the three-legged things.

[MyffyW]

"Dear Ms W, Good luck and God's providence has lead me to you, my friend. But first let me introduce myself. I am Dr Emmanuel Abba. I need your help in repatriating SIX MILLION Martian Credits ........"

[Jedit]

"I need your help in repatriating SIX MILLION Martian Credits"

"Dear Mr CARTER, I am a representative of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars..."

[Kernel]

They've got to find funding for the space craft somehow, and selling your details to earthly marketing companies seems to work for other organisations..............

[Pete 2]

International identify theft?

> first and last names, their country of residence, postal codes and email addresses

Dang! Now we'll have to contend with martian hackers and phishers as well as terrestrial ones. I wonder if their English is any better?

[Rich 11]

Re: International identify theft?

I wonder if their English is any better?

With minds immeasurably greater than our own? Bound to be.

[Ochib]

Re: International identify theft?

The chances of anything coming from Mars

Are a million to one, he said

The chances of anything coming from Mars

Are a million to one, but still, they come

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like

Small scale graffiti...

[redpawn]

Be sure to check your spam folder

This is how the microbes will communicate with us. The small print is needed for obvious reasons.

[Chris G]

ET junk mail

' Have your glargs been zoogled when sloozing?

You may be entitled to compensation, we can help you to claim, call #"87643246887 free and without obligation today.

[Flocke Kroes]

Plenty of space

At 37x75nm per letter a 10mm X 10mm can hold 4.6 letters for each of the 7.7G humans on the planet. You should be able to get your name on the chip - as long as the bots are not to active.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Plenty of space

Of bots: either the Turks are greatly enthusiastic for this treat, or their bots are... 50% more names from there than from the US!

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Like the true geek I am, I have registered. Still time to update the virus scanner with profiles for any Martian viruses

[0laf]

I for one....

I wait with anticipation a visit from our Alien overloads when they come looking for "Hugh Jass", "Toby La Rhone", "Amanda Hugginkis", "Mike Rotch", Bender Bending Rodriguez". Gredit to Matt Groening et al.

[Rich 11]

Re: I for one....

Don't forget Huw Jampton and Betty Swallocks.

[Mark 85]

Re: I for one....

One more..... Mike Hunt.

[Spherical Cow]

Re: I for one....

Ophelia Harden

Jenny Taylia

Euripides Panzhoff

[aeonturnip]

Re: I for one....

I'd go for the Fry & Laurie collection:

Suckmaster Burstingfoam

Peter Cummin-Myear

Frigmy Popplehate-Fresharse

[macjules]

NASA boffins may just carve your name on a chip and send it to Mars

Damn, I was hoping to get a "Would that be a Burger King chip then?" in there.

[Alister]

NASA has invited members of the public to submit their first and last names, their country of residence, postal codes and email addresses.

So that's another database which will end up on Pastebin shortly...

[Anonymous Coward]

they'll probably misspell my name.

and the aliens will probably misspronounce it.

every day reality of being an effnic minority.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dave Smith, is that you?

[Charlie van Becelaere]

AC FTW!

The post is required, and must contain letters.

[FozzyBear]

Yep it's all a matter of perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUEG-O8AL64

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure they won't be reading out the list to a guy with a very small hammer and chisel, so the chance of them misspelling will be pretty small..

[MonsieurTM]

My mother is not an ethnic minority and her name is rarely pronounced correctly. Like mine.

[MonsieurTM]

What about those names on the DVD on New Horizons? I welcome the anal probes from my alien overlords!

[Stevie]

Bah!

Handy tip for the interested: Avoid using ampersands.

[Daedalus]

You've got to believe!!

Ah, those words uttered by Delos David Harriman at the beginning of "The Man Who Sold The Moon". I myself believe that D.D., as his friends called him, was the first to promise people that their names would be inscribed on a monument left behind on the Lunar surface, for a small fee each. As NASA did IRL, he inscribed the names so small that it would require a powerful microscope to read them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Late to the game again

I posted the news on the HUKD website a few days ago, already heading towards a 2000 degree heat level of appreciation.

The boarding cards are rather nicer than the certificates they gave out in the past; my son's name will be entering the Oort cloud on the New Horizons space probe.

My daughter is doing a class "Show and Tell" on this offering at school today, we have printed out photos of the Atlas V rocket and graphics of the Mars Rover, as well as the boarding card.

Looking for somewhere to redeem the 313 million airmiles..........

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Late to the game again

"Looking for somewhere to redeem the 313 million airmiles.........."

They're only worth one Mars Bar :-)

[Torchy]

CIA Database honeytrap.

If you fall for this then you really need to return to primary school.