Space

Last chance to submit a message for NASA to beam 13 billion miles into space

Key Points
  • NASA has been collecting submissions via Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms for a 60 character message to send to the unmanned Voyager 1 space craft.
  • The U.S. space agency, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Voyager team will whittle down the suggestions and the public will vote for a winner to send toward the probe on September 5.
  • Voyager 1 is currently almost 13 billion miles away from Earth and has become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space.
Voyager 1 is the first man-made object to leave our solar system and pass into interstellar space.
Source: NASA

NASA has been asking for suggestions from the public to beam up to the most distant man-made object in the universe, with Tuesday marking the final day for people to send in their requests.

The U.S. space agency has been collecting submissions via Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms for a 60 character message to send to the unmanned Voyager 1 space craft.

NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Voyager team will whittle down the suggestions and the public will vote for a winner to send toward the probe on September 5.

It's all in celebration of the craft's 40th year in space.

Public polls in the age of the internet have prompted some bizarre results, with a vote last year choosing the name Boaty McBoatface for the U.K.'s new polar research ship, although organizers decided not to take up the popular choice. Some of the suggestions submitted via the hashtag #MessageToVoyager have struck a similar tone.

Tweet 1

One early recommendation for NASA to beam up in to space indefinitely from Buran called for the space agency to go with, "Messagey McMessageface" while Mr. Cazacu suggested "To Infinity… And Beyond!"

Tweet 2

Voyager 1 is currently almost 13 billion miles away from Earth and has become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. NASA scientists define this as the place where the sun's constant flow of material and magnetic field stop affecting its surroundings.