QUESTION:
A year or so ago I submitted many students' names which were to be scanned
and placed on a chip.  This chip was suppose to be on the rover. I have not
heard any information on this project.  Do you have any information which I
may relate to my students concerning this?

ANSWER from Pieter Kallemeyn on August 12, 1997:
Yes, your signatures (and thousands of others) were digitized and placed on
a 1" x 1" chip that currently resides on the lander, now resting atop a
mound of deflated airbags on the surface of Mars.  Also on the chip are
introductory letters from our Project Manager, Mission Manager, Flight
System Manager and Chief Scientist.

When humans eventually land on Mars and make their way to Ares Vallis to
visit the Pathfinder landing site, they'll be able to read those names,
providing they have a very high-powered microscope.

Pieter Kallemeyn