Nasa is going to put a pop-up art gallery on an asteroid

And your work could hang in it.

(Nasa)

Because journeying into space is “an inherently creative activity”, Nasa has decided to take some art with it on its mission to Asteroid 101955 aka Bennu.

The space agency put a call-out for submissions from budding artists, a selection of which will be put on board the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft before it is sent into space in September.

Nasa hasn’t given a tight brief, but is encouraging submissions “expressing, through art, how the mission’s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives.”

The OSIRIS-REx is hoping to be the first US mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for analysis - Bennu having been chosen due to its composition and proximity to Earth.

The carbon rich asteroid is just 492 metres in diameter and passes our planet (within around 186,000 miles) once every six years.

Space exploration is an inherently creative activity,” Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson, said.. “We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their artwork on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.”

Nasa is taking submissions on Twitter using the hashtag #WeTheExplorers and account @OSIRISEx and on Instagram at @OSIRIS_REX, with a deadline of 11.59pm, 20 March, 2016.