At least 2.4 million, of which 1.3 lakh are Indian citizens, have sent their names to NASA to be carried to Mars by the InSight mission, which has been scheduled for launch on May 5, 2018. Those who registered their names were provided with an online ‘boarding pass’ for the mission. The real race, however, is to not just etch human names on the red planet, but also construct human colonies there.
