The countrys Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) hopes to launch the names of hundreds of thousands of space enthusiasts aboard its MUSES-C spacecraft, the first ever sample-return mission to an asteroid. The craft is expected to fly at the end of this year, visiting the asteroid 1998 SF36 as it crosses the Earths orbit in 2005. The deadline to submit a name for the launch is July 5.

More than 160,000 names have already been collected in an effort by the Planetary Society of Japan, an international affiliate of the Planetary Society based in Pasadena, California, in this latest attempt to promote exploration by putting the personal monikers of people in space. Japans ISAS sent 270,000 names aboard its Nozomi spacecraft en route to Mars, with more names accompanying the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission, comet visitor Stardust and the societys own solar said craft Cosmos 1.

"Its seems rather silly to send names into space, but I think it offers a sense of immortality to the public and a way of getting up there without actually going," said Brian Marsden, Planetary Society member and director of the Minor Planet Center, in a telephone interview.

Marsden joked that asteroid 1998 SF36s orbit brings it relatively close to Earth. "Hopefully, it might hit the Earth and bring these names back," he said with a laugh.

For the MUSES-C mission, individual names will be etched onto an aluminum foil sheet that will then be enclosed in a target marker, an artificial ball the size of a softball. MUSES-C will release the marker as it approaches the asteroid, use it as a guide to land safely, and begin collecting samples.

ISAS officials expect MUSES-C to return samples of asteroid by 2007.