NASA's MAVEN to Carry 1,000 Haiku to Red Planet

Nearly 1,000 haiku along with thousands of names will be carried to the red planet aboard NASA's spacecraft that is scheduled to launch on November 18.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission will carry 1,100 haiku on its journey to the red planet. These interesting contributions were provided by the enthusiastic earthlings who participated in a contest that was sponsored by the University of Colorado, Boulder.

NASA was looking for a creative way to win public support after a bill approved by a Key Senate panel reauthorized NASA and set up a showdown with the House with regards to how much fund the space program should receive.

Officials working with MAVEN chose this unique outreach program to garner some support.  A contest inviting the public to write Japanese style poems regarding NASA's next MAVEN mission to Mars, was devised. In May, they kick-started the 'Going to Mars Competition' and promised to select five winners to be included on MAVEN during its mission to Mars, reports Time Swampland.

The agency received 12,530 valid entries from all around the globe and the top five were determined on the basis of public votes. They received 39,000 votes on the entries.

"The contest has resonated with people in ways that I never imagined," said Stephanie Renfrow, MAVEN Education and Public Outreach and the Going to Mars campaign leader, said in apress release. "Both new and accomplished poets wrote poetry to reflect their views of Earth and Mars, to share their feelings about space exploration, to pay tribute to loved ones who have passed on and to make us laugh with their words."

The first place was grabbed by Benedict Smith from U.K with 2,301 votes. His marvelous thought on Mars was:

It's funny, they named

Mars after the God of War

Have a look at Earth.

To make it to the list of top 5 along with Benedict were Vanna Bonta from the U.S., Luisa Santoro from Italy, Greg Pruett from the U.S. and Fanni Redenczki from Hungary. Click here to view their writings.

You can still have your name going to Mars as the contest is open till September 10, and you can submit your names and messages online.

"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 Renfrow.

NASA's MAVEN arrived in Florida last week to prepare for its launch later this year. The principal investigator for MAVEN is CU-Boulder Professor Bruce Jakosky.