Pinoys dominate submissions for NASA's 'Send Your Name to Mars' program

Over a million Filipinos have signed up for NASA's initiative to send names to Mars in its future missions.

As of posting, the Philippines has submitted 1,158,247 entries for the program, making up a little over fifty percent of the world total of 2,151,191.

The United States ranks a far second with 140,814 entries, followed by India with 125,437 entries.

^{Screencap from mars.nasa.gov}

NASA’s latest Mars-bound Perseverance rover has just been launched and is set to bring over 10.9 million names to the neighboring planet from the last name submission campaign.

Since the opportunity to send names to Mars this year is already closed, NASA opened another chance for the public to submit their names for the next expedition.

Interested applicants can still input their details on NASA's site.

The agency will review the entries and once approved, the names will be etched onto a microchip and placed aboard the future mission spacecraft to Mars which is expected to fly mid-2020s.

—JCB, GMA News