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Messages from Earth



Connecting us to other worlds in words, images, and sounds.


Two new Messages from Earth launched from Tanegashima space center at 6:58:22 local time May 21 (21:58:22 UTC May 20).

Names and messages -- printed in fine letters on an aluminum plate -- are aboard the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" and on a Silica mini-DVD aboard IKAROS.

If you haven't downloaded your Official Participation Cetificate you still can!

Download AKATSUKI certificate >>

Download IKAROS certificate >>

While you can no longer send a message on IKAROS there is still time to send your name sailing on LightSail!
Click here to send your message and don't forget to print your official participation certificate when you are done!

The Planetary Society collected 34,000 names from people who signed up to fly their names on IKAROS, JAXA's solar sail.

Lightsail, a project of The Planetary Society, will merge the ultra-light technology of nanosats with the ultra-large technology of solar sails setting a course to the stars. LightSail-1 is the beginning of an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years.

IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is a solar sail which gathers sunlight as propulsion by means of a large sail. This solar powered sail craft will employ both photon propulsion and thin film solar power generation during its interplanetary cruise. IKAROS will be launched together with the Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki, in May 2010 by JAXA.


Don't miss the next opportunity -- sign up for email notices!

If you submitted a name to fly on the Phoenix Mars lander or the Kaguya orbiter, you can still download your certificates.
Fly Your Name to Mars on Phoenix >>

Wish Upon the Moon with Kaguya (SELENE) >>


When the next lander touches down on the surface of Mars, when the next sample return mission sends its precious cargo back to Earth, when the next spacecraft enters orbit around a giant planet, you could be there too! The Planetary Society is committed to bringing you on board each and every mission launched into space from Earth.

Thousands of people, from all over the world, participated in our most recent Messages from Earth on the Phoenix mission to Mars, with the Kaguya mission to the Moon, and with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. If you sent a message prior to the deadline you can still download your Official Participation Certificate -- one for each mission.

These certificates will be permanent record of your part in the story of space exploration.

The Planetary Society has done it before. When the Mars Pathfinder and its rover Sojourner landed on Mars in 1997, the names of all Planetary Society members were affixed to the spacecraft. When the Stardust sample return capsule landed back on Earth, the names of all Society members also returned from a journey of seven billion miles in space, while another copy of the same names is forever orbiting the Sun on board the Stardust spacecraft. Spirit and Opportunity both landed on Mars along with the names of Society members, and another list went out in a blaze of glory as Deep Impact slammed into the core of comet Tempel 1. We will take every opportunity to do it again.

Don't give up on this opportunity to leave your own indelible mark on the great adventure that is space exploration! By joining The Planetary Society, you ensure that when the next space mission soars into the heavens carrying the names of supporters from around the world, your name will be there too.