Wish Upon the Moon!

You might not be able to set your footstep on the Moon, but your name and wishes can! Thanks to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Planetary Society to make this happen.

JAXA will launch the lunar orbiter SELENE on a H-IIA Launch Vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center in the summer of 2007. SELENE stands for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer, which consists of three separate spacecraft — a main spacecraft that will circle the Moon in an elliptical orbit and two small relay satellites that will assume a polar orbit. This project that aims to collect closely featured scientific data on the formation of the moon and its transitional history up to today, which is the biggest lunar exploration project since the Apollo Project.

JAXA is now accepting public names and messages to deliver to the moon aboard the SELENE.