Galactic Poets Encouraged to Submit Works to NASA, Could See their Story go to Red Planet

Are you a poet and you didn't even know it? Well, now you can be. For those of the galactic persuasion, NASA has a chance to make your work famous with a trip to the red planet!

In order to raise awareness for their upcoming launch to the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft with its Going to Mars Project, the organization is giving three lucky poets the chance to include their haikus to the trip, which should be specifically written for the occasion, and everybody who submits something will have their name included in a DVD.

The MAVEN spacecraft is scheduled for launch this November, to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere; the craft will examine why Mars lost its atmosphere, and how that catastrophe affected the history of water there.

"The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission," said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, according to NPR.

NASA says the rules are simple: "Everybody on planet Earth is welcome to participate!" You do have to be 18 years old to create a log-in email profile, and children are encouraged to ask parents and teachers for help. All haikus must be in English.

The submission deadline is July 1, and starting July 15, the public will vote on the three winning poems to travel on the spacecraft's DVD. The winners will be announced August 8. The poems will be accompanied on the MAVEN by some student artwork, selected by popular vote in a separate contest.

Get started with your ideas in the comments below.