Have you ever wanted to blast off on a NASA rocket and travel to Mars? Well, now you have exactly that opportunity! Well not exactly, but your name can ride the fire into space for you. I originally came across this on NASA's website prior to Orion's Flight Test on December 4, 2014. Rylan and I both registered for boarding passes for that flight, and now you can register for a boarding pass to have your name fly to Mars aboard InSight. Just click the link at the bottom of this page to register for your own. But hurry, registration closes on September 8th.
Once you have registered for your boarding pass, you can also check your Mars Frequent Flyer Club account.
InSight is scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg AFB, California, Earth on March 4, 2016 aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket, and its destination is Elysium Planitia, "Plain of Ideal Happiness," Mars.
InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a NASA Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior.
But InSight is more than a Mars mission - it is a terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of the most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system science - understanding the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago.
By using sophisticated geophysical instruments, InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars, detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial planet formation, as well as measuring the planet's "vital signs": Its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow probe), and "reflexes" (precision tracking).
InSight seeks to answer one of science's most fundamental questions: How did the terrestrial planets form?
Credit: nasa.gov | http://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/insight/