Send Your Name to the Moon

Before NASA begins manned missions to the moon, they will first send the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to scout out particular features on the surface. The LRO is scheduled to launch later this year, but NASA has invited people of all ages to take part in the mission now. You can visit the LRO website to submit your name to be brought aboard the spacecraft. The collected names will be stored in a database on a microchip inside the LRO. Participants are encouraged to submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

No Aliens Here!

Once again, University researchers have helped to detest the existence of life on one of Saturn's moons. On behalf of these University researchers, let me apologize to the alien faithful for destroying your dream of visiting Martian friends on Enceladus. But seriously, geologist at the University of Illinois have used images from NASA's Cassini Spacecraft, that has been orbiting Saturn for over three years, to create a model of the moon to examine the existence of life.

A new model of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus may quell hopes of finding life there. Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, the model explains the most salient observations on Enceladus without requiring the presence of liquid water.

Saturn's Moon Enceladus Is Unlikely To Harbor Life