Caldwell Internet Express
  Caldwell Internet Express
     4307 Vergie Avenue
 Beltsville, MD 20705-1511		  Voice:(301) 937-1891
    Fax:(301) 937-1934
EMAIL jody@calix.com

Please support these pages by visiting our sponsor!

[Prev][Next][Index]

Public Invited to "Fly Your Name to Saturn"

Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC                March 28, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1753)

Stephanie Zeluck
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 
(Phone:  818/354-5011)

RELEASE:  96-61

PUBLIC INVITED TO "FLY YOUR NAME TO SATURN"

        A high-tech equivalent of a message in a bottle will 
carry the signatures of thousands of vicarious space 
explorers when it is launched aboard the Cassini mission to 
Saturn in 1997.

        Volunteer members of The Planetary Society, Pasadena, 
CA, will help scan the signatures into digital form.  The 
digital data will later be loaded onto a CD-ROM or other 
digital media, and then will be mounted onto the Cassini 
spacecraft during its final assembly at NASA's Kennedy Space 
Center, FL.

        Earlier NASA spacecraft such as Viking, Magellan, and 
Galileo also carried thousands of signatures on other media, 
but Cassini will be the first to utilize modern digital 
storage technology.  The disc is expected to hold about a 
million names and should survive well beyond the duration of 
Cassini's 11-year mission.

        "The people who have already sent in signatures think 
this is a wonderful idea," said Suzanne Barber, 
administration manager of the Cassini Program. "School 
teachers love it -- it just seems to capture their students' 
imaginations, and it offers them a feeling of immortality to 
be able to send their names into space."

        To participate, signatures should be sent on a plain 
postcard.  Multiple signatures per postcard are acceptable.  
Names will be accepted until January 1, 1997, or until the 
CD-ROM is full.  Postcards should be sent to: 

                  Suzanne Barber
                  MS 264-441
                  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
                  4800 Oak Grove Drive 
                  Pasadena, CA 91109  

        Electronic mail transmittals cannot be accepted, and 
confirmation will be provided only to those who enclose a 
self-addressed, stamped envelope.

        Cassini, scheduled for launch on October 6, 1997, is 
a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and 
the Italian Space Agency (ASI).  It will send an atmospheric 
probe called Huygens to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.  
The Cassini spacecraft will orbit Saturn for four years, 
gathering data on Saturn, its rings, magnetic environment and moons.  

        The Cassini home page on the Internet offers a wide 
variety of information about the mission and the planet 
Saturn.  It can be accessed at:  

                  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ 

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Images to illustrate this release are 
available for news media representatives by calling 202/358-
1900.

Photos in support of this release:  Color            B&W
                                    96-HC-173       96-H-173

                                    -end-

NASA press releases and other information are available 
automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message 
to domo@hq.nasa.gov.  In the body of the message (not the 
subject line) users should type the words "subscribe 
press-release" (no quotes).  The system will reply with a 
confirmation via E-mail of each subscription.  A second 
automatic message will include additional information on the 
service.  NASA releases also are available via CompuServe 
using the command GO NASA.