You may not ever get to go to space, however your art may get the opportunity.
NASA is inviting the public to send their art via Twitter (@OSIRISREx) and Instagram (OSIRIS_REX) with the hashtag #WeTheExplorers so it can go to an asteroid named Bennu through NASA’s spacecraft OSIRIS-REx. Their point of doing this project is so that they can learn more about asteroid Bennu, which may hit Earth in 2182.
On February 15, 2013, Asteroid 2012 DA14 (Bennu) passed within 22,000 miles of Earth: less than a tenth of the distance to the Moon. Although the 45-meter rock had an almost zero percent chance of hitting Earth, close encounters with near-Earth asteroids raise questions.
Why send art to an asteriod that can crash our planet?
Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA, had this to say:
“The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September,”
Does this interest you? NASA rules are that the submission may take the form of a sketch, photograph, graphic, poem, song, short video or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer.
All ages welcomed, but minors but have their parent or guardian’s permission before submitting.
The deadline for the public to send submissions is Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 11:59pm, or when there is no more room left and the project is filled to capacity, and it must stay available on social media, publicly, until April 30, 2016.
Asteroid Bennu has a rough history, being formed long ago during a violent collision, and pieces were later sheared off from gravitational forces of planets it passed.
OSIRIS-REx will be the first ever spacecraft to land on Bennu to collect material and send a sample back to Earth.
You can check out the guidelines for submission here.
Featured image by Sangdrax via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons license.
