Want to send a haiku into space?  Nasa is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere. The DVD will be in Nasa’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) spacecraft, which is set for launch in November. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign co-ordinated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP). 

The DVD will carry every name submitted. People are also being encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. Three haiku will be selected, and the deadline for all submissions is 1 July. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin on 15 July. You can take part in the competition here.

"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, head of the Maven Education and Public Outreach programme at CU/LASP. 

Maven is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars' atmosphere determined the history of water on the surface. 

IMAGE: NASA