Today, some 90,000 messages will be beamed from Earth to Mars using radio telescopes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first robot probe to ever visit Mars.

A U.S. based space funding company named Uwingu organized this event that will send an extraterrestrial hello from Earth to mark NASA's historic Mariner 4 mission. The event will also raise funds for other space projects since people have to pay from US$5 to US$99 to send their messages.

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The project called "Beam Me to Mars" invited interested space enthusiasts to send digital radio wave transmissions to Mars along with their names and messages. These messages can include pictures.

Some Hollywood celebrities were also supportive of this Mars project, including comedian Seth Green and George Takei who played Mr. Sulu on the hit TV sci-fi series, Star Trek.

The Martian transmission is scheduled to start after 3:00 p.m. EST on Friday. The messages will travel at the speed of light, taking some 15 minutes to reach Mars. The entire transmission will take place twice.

Copies of the messages will be sent to the U.S. Congress, to NASA's headquarters in Washington and to the United Nations office in New York as a symbol of support for space exploration.

Uwingu said no one is on Mars to answer the messages but humans can hear them loud and clear on Earth. Uwingu is the Swahili word for "sky." It's also a privately owned space company that raises funds, especially for space research and educational projects.

NASA's Mariner 4 was followed to Mars by over 20 orbiters and landers.

Mariner 4 sent back to Earth the first pictures of the planet's surface. Since then, other spacecraft have visited, orbited or landed on Mars.

These include Mariner 9 and the Vikings missions which paved way for rovers such as Curiosity and the latest orbiter MAVEN currently exploring and studying the Martian atmosphere and terrain.

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