“The Little Prince Campaign” drew 880,000 people

Taking the opportunity of coming launch of MUSES-C, we waged “The Little Prince Campaign”, where people from all over the world were invited to register their names to send them to the asteroid with MUSES-C. Thanks to total collaboration from the Planetary Society of Japan as a cohost, the campaign received approx. 880,000 applications from 149 countries.
Whereas the “Your Name to Mars” campaign that was carried out at the time of the PLANET-B (NOZOMI) launch in 1998 collected about 270,000 applications via postcards with their signature on them, this campaign achieved higher efficiency using the Internet as well as postcards.

We were greatly encouraged by the fact that there were so many people who had an irresistible longing and dream for space, and recognized anew that we had the responsibility for turning this energy into space development.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all who helped us in this campaign. The names of 880,000 people will be etched on aluminum films, which will be attached on the target marker that acts as a lighthouse for MUSES-C when it approaches the asteroid for sampling.

October 16, 2002