The Philippines has topped the ranking of countries whose citizens have signed their names for inclusion in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars Mission planned for the year 2026.

As of this writing, 2,072,614 sign-ups from the Philippines have been recorded on the NASA “Send Your Name To Mars” program for world participation in the space mission.

The United States which hosts NASA was ranked 2nd with 171,662 sign-ups, followed by India at 3rd with 59,624, and Brazil at 4th with 113,319.

The Philippines took up about a third of the total 3,276,020 names sent from over 200 countries and territories.

NASA’s “Send Your Name to Mars” allows people to virtually join the space flight by signing up their names for inclusion in the microchip that will be sent on board space missions to the Red Planet.

The program welcomed new sign-ups after the latest NASA Mars mission flight of Perseverance Rover was launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, bearing 10.9 million names onboard.

Perseverance Rover, with the virtual space flight members whose names are in three dime-sized chips, is expected to land on Mars by February 18, 2021.

“The mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars,” NASA said in a statement.

The Perseverance Rover will collect core samples of rocks and soils on the surface of Mars.