National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be sending the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft to the 1,760-foot (500-meter)-wide Asteroid Bennu in 2016. The space agency is now inviting the public to send in their names to be included in the "Messages to Bennu!" microchip aboard the spacecraft.

"We're thrilled to be able to share the OSIRIS-REx adventure with people across the Earth, to Bennu and back. It's a great opportunity for people to get engaged with the mission early and join us as we prepare for launch," Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission from the University of Arizona in Tucson, stated in the Red Orbit report. The Planetary Society Chief Executive Officer Bill Nye also encouraged the public to be part of the exploration on the solar system for it will be a cool experience.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission is to collect a sample of asteroid Bennu's surface to assist NASA in answering the questions about its composition and source of organic materials as well as identifying the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth space objects and their orbits. The asteroid mission will also be bringing together the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration efforts in order to attain the goal of President Barack Obama where human beings can be sent to an asteroid by 2025.

Jason Dworkin, the mission project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, pointed out that the asteroid mission is an exciting one for the people who submitted their names to Bennu could be a part of the future team that will analyze the samples taken from the asteroid.

People who are interested in participating with the "Messages to Bennu!" mission can submit their names online at planetary.org/bennu not later than September 30. According to the Space.com report, the mission's participants can download and print the certificate that documents about their name included in the OSIRIS-Rex asteroid mission.

Furthermore, the participants who "Follow" or "Like" the space mission on Twitter or Facebook will be given updates on the location of their name in space starting from the launch time until the asteroid samples return to planet Earth. The Facebook fans will receive descriptions as well on the mission's progress and breaking news by means of regular status updates.

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