NASA has launched a playful series of Mars recruitment posters aimed at enticing people to explore the Red Planet.
The retro posters resemble those used by the U.S. government to recruit people into the military during World War I and are
available to download from NASA's website.
"Mars needs YOU!" the website touts. "In the future, Mars will need all kinds of explorers, farmers, surveyors, teachers . . . but most of all YOU! Join us on the Journey to Mars as we explore with robots and send humans there one day."
The posters encourage people with a variety of interests to explore the planet to grow gardens, work the night shift on one of the planet's moons, and hike the solar system's largest canyon, Valles Marineris.
As intended, the posters are drawing widespread attention. While actual opportunities to visit the planet don't exist, the posters are compelling enough to "convince you to go die in space,"
Gizmodo wrote.
NASA's
Journey to Mars program is in fact working on new technologies in hope of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.
The posters first appeared at Kennedy Space Center in 2009,
according to Fast Company, which noted that plans to send people to the planet have faced push-back from some who prefer a focus on lunar missions.
By and large, Twitter users seemed inspired by the posters.
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