Send Your Name to Venus, Now With ... Miku !!

[Note Dec/23: We have reached more than 10,000 people signed up the campaign. Hooray! Mike is going to Venus on a plate, and we could afford more as we will continue the campaign thru Jan/5.]

Remember Emily just introduced a new Send Your Name to Venus campaign of JAXA Akatsuki mission a several days ago on her Planetary.org blog? Akatsuki is a new spacecraft of JAXA/ISAS, bound for Venus sometime next year. JAXA accepts your name and a very short message to be on board the spacecraft, then send it to Venus. You must hurry up! Deadline is December 25. But, wait! [JAXA extended the deadline 'til Jan 10, and this Miku to Venus campaign will be extended 'til Jan 56 or so]

Credit: JAXA/ISAS

Now Japanese fan-loving young people gave it a new twist.

YOU CAN SEND YOUR NAME TO VENUS ON AN ALUMINUM PLATE WITH A FANCY ILLUSTRATION OF A NICE LOOKING VIRTUAL VOCALOID CHARACTER, "MIKU", IF MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE GATHER !! [Now we have more than 10,000 people! Thank you all for those who already signed, and welcome more names until Jan/5.]

Credit: @tripshots

Here's the story. Original JAXA Akatsuki campaign allow group entries to send a illustration if the members of group are more than 100. A space fan @chodenzi decided to gather names on the net, to send his favorite character, Miku.

Miku is a name of virtual Vocaloid character, produced by Crypton Future Media, Inc. Once installed on your PC, Miku can sing virtually any kind of song as you program, with a voice of sweet lady.

So passionated to Miku, @chodenzi created a miniature model of Mike onboard his small "satellite" that one day he could launch it into space. His determination eventually find him on an Arizona desert last September in a rocket contest XPRS (eXtreme Performance Rocket Ships).

http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0910/08/news011.html

@chodenzi saw the Akatsuki campaign as an opportunity, so he set up his version of sign-up web site and asked people to join.

The word spread out quickly. Initial goal of 100 people has been achieved in hours. Then 1,000 people have signed up in five days. JAXA noticed the move.

Prof. Seiichi Sakamoto, who is responsible for the public outreach and external relations of JAXA/ISAS, told @chodenzi that if more than 10,000 people would sign up, he would allocate one of 100 aluminum plates to the group. The plates are used as counter weights of the spacecraft, and will be able to carry messages and illustrations on it.

So here comes the twist. Spacecrafts and Vocaloids are the brainchildren of cutting-edge technologies. Many young talents got excited and gathered to create a collaborative work literally overnight, to create even newer web site, in Japanese, in English, in Chinese and in Korean! We love space, we love technologies, and, most importantly, we believe in our future. We go to Venus together!

Come on! Sign up and send your name and message, onboard Akatsuki bound for Venus, with Vocaloid Miku! Time is limited. Sign up before Xmas Today!

Enter here in English | Japanese | Chinese | Korean