March 27 (UPI) -- NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is set to carry the names of 10,932,295 people to the Red Planet. The names, etched onto tiny silicon chips by an electron beam, were recently attached to an aluminum plate on the rover at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The names scheduled to be carried into space next year were submitted by participants in NASA's "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign. Silicon chips featuring the essays of 155 finalists from NASA's "Name the Rover" contest were also affixed to the aluminum plate, which was mounted on the rover's aft crossbeam. The plate features an etched illustration of Mars and Earth linked by the rays of the sun.