The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invited all space enthusiasts to submit their artistic endeavors on a journey aboard NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. It will be the first US mission to collect asteroid sand and send it back to Earth for study.

OSIRIS-REx will launch in September, travelling to the asteroid Bennu. The #WeTheExplorers campaign has called the public to participate in the mission by expressing, via art, how the exploration spirit of the mission has reflected in their own lives.

The submitted artworks will be saved on a chip on the spacecraft. The spacecraft already has a chip with over 442,000 names, submitted in the 2014 ‘Messages to Bennu’ campaign.

Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said, “The development of spacecraft and instruments has been hugely creative process, where ultimately canvas is machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September. It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire public to express creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space”.

People can submit a sketch, picture, song, graphic, poem, short video or other creative or artistic expression, reflecting what it means to be an explorer. NASA will accept submissions through Twitter and Instagram and the deadline is March 20.

Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson informed that exploration of space is an inherently creative activity. Lauretta added that they are welcoming the world to be part of this great adventure with them by placing their art work on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it is going to remain in space for millennia.

The spacecraft will take a journey to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu for the collection of a sample of more than 60 grams and will send it to Earth for research.