Pennies for Mars...

This is a project of MarsDrive, a nonprofit group aiming to help humanity move into space.

A penny isn't much, is it? It's worth less money than the copper it contains. Many people nowadays throw their pennies on the ground rather than carry them around.

The Idea

What if your spare change could open up a new world, a new branch of the human race? Would you contribute?

We hear about the billions that go to NASA, and it sounds like a lot. But its budget is less than one percent of our federal budget. In fact, of every ten dollars the government spends, less than seven cents goes to NASA.

Or look at it this way: How much do you think NASA's budget is per US citizen per day? As it turns out -- it's thirteen cents. Each day we pay thirteen cents, a fifth the price of a canned drink from a machine. This goes to fund the space shuttle, the space station, all the robotic exploration efforts, the shuttle replacement, and all other activities.
 

NASA's budget is thirteen cents per citizen per day.

In return we get new knowledge we have never had before. We get spinoff technology that has saved countless human lives in the last four decades. We get jobs for hundreds of thousands of people, not just astronauts and engineers but janitors and truck drivers (and everything in between). We advance the human race.

The Challenge

We want you to keep a bank. Put your pennies in it. (Nickels and dimes are also good, of course.)

When you empty it and convert it to paper money, donate that anount to MarsDrive via Paypal:

We won't get that much -- it won't be billions. But then, we're not doing rocket science. We're just lending a helping hand while others do the rocket science.

And how will we spend the money? We're all about education and outreach. We believe that if more people knew about space, more people would care. If you want to know the details of our projects, go and visit our site.

Mars: "Within our reach, within our lifetimes."