Lord Venkateswara's name included on NASA's rocket to Mars

name of Lord Venkateswara of famous hill shrine at Tirumala, stencilled in micro chips and affixed on NASAs Mars 2020 Rover, would fly to Red Planet, former director of National Mission of Manuscripts and an ardent devotee V Venkata Ramana Reddy said in Tirupati on Tuesday.

"I have submitted sacred name of Lord Venkateswara and got souvenir boarding pass in name of Lord from official website of NASA," Reddy, also formerly professor of Oriental Research Institute in Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, told PTI.

Lord's name would be among 10 million names stencilled on microchips affixed on Rover, American ncy has said.

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submission of names at NASA website for "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign ended on Tuesday, Reddy said.

"I am a strong supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara, and I am delighted to send name of ancient and world famous Tirumala shrines presiding deity to Mars," he said.

NASA h invited public to submit ir names to fly to red planet.   mission is scheduled for launch in July 2020, with craft expected to touch down on Mars in February 2021.

Rover would search for signs of past microbial life, characterise planet's climate and geology, collect samples from Mars.

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