NASA Mission Has Anime Mascots (Anime Mascots?)

NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are launching a satellite for next-gen rain and snow observation for the entire globe. This is an important mission and will help us better understand our planet’s water cycles. And it needs an important mascot.

NASA decided to hold a contest to select a mission mascot. Since NASA is teaming up with JAXA, it decided to make this an anime-themed contest. Fair enough!

After receiving over 40 submissions, NASA scientists (NASA scientists!!) selected their favourites. Here are the grand prize winners:

This is “Mizu-chan” by 14 year-old Sabrynne Buchholz from Hudson, Colorado. “Mizu” means “water” in Japanese.

This is “GPM” by Yuki Kiriga from Tokyo Japan. “GPM” stands for “Global Precipitation Measurement” and is the mission’s name.

Below, you can see two high school runners-up. The image at the top of this story was one of the adult runners-up.

There’s something truly wonderful about NASA scientists taking a break from a global precipitation satellite to judge anime drawings.

You can learn more about the winning mascots in the link below.

Winners of the GPM Anime Challenge [NASA.gov via It’s OK To Be Smart via Neatorama]