Imperiese “on the surface of Mars”. Not in the flesh, of course, but at the age of sixteen Federico Bustico Nevertheless, it was interesting to know that your name is engraved on a slice of the “persistent” rover that has landed in recent days on the Red Planet.
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On February 18, 2020, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission landed on the red planet to Mars with its new persevering rover and small innovation helicopter after a long flight that began on July 30 with the departure from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from which it came. It was launched into space by an Atlas V rocket. It was all broadcast live by NASA. The persistent wheeled robot, built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, landed in the Jezero crater on Mars carrying seven advanced technology tools to study the Martian surface.
The new rover will remain on the red planet for at least one Martian year (687 days, nearly two years on Earth) with the aim of looking for any trace that could indicate the existence of life in the past, bearing in mind the presence of evidence of water dating back billions. The years. The purpose of the mission is to test the viability of advanced technological tools that may also be useful for future human explorations; There is no small goal given that the hope is that in the future the technologies will be used to travel through space using robots and then bring humans to Mars.
With that in mind, NASA proposed a project, in 2019, which gave the opportunity, for 10 million people in the world, to join by submitting their names which would then be included in a slide pinned to the Perseverance Chariot, which did so. Federico Bosticco from Imperia, sixteen-year-old and enthusiastic about the topic, who posts his name on the NASA website.
At 9:55 PM on February 18th, perseverance touched the surface of Mars and at the same moment Frederick received an email from NASA confirming that his name has landed on the red planet with more than 10 million people in the world. The whole world is on the chip. It is preceded by another mail that announced his name was on the rover. The billboard holds nearly 11 million names written into three tiny dime boards, using writing already tested with the Curiosity rover with a tool capable of making engravings well below a micrometer.
When the persistent rover leaves Mars in 2023, the chip will print the name tag onto the Martian soil. Besides the e-mail, a boarding pass was sent to Federico certifying the landing of his name on Mars: “A great affection, thank NASA for giving me this opportunity,” said the young man.
