You know that a character has reached new heights when a fan decides to launch a petition to create a custom made plate of the said character that will be used as a balancing weight for a... spacecraft explorer?!
That is exactly what Sumio "chodensi-P" Morioka did. In November 2009, he started the Hatsune Miku aluminum plate petition for the Japanese Venus spacecraft explorer, Akatsuki, which will be launched in summer of 2010. Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency backed him up but only reached the 10,000 signatures necessary after the original deadline; 20th of December 2009. However, due to the delays in the Akatsuki project, a new deadline, 6th of January 2010 was set, and the project received over 14,000 signatures.
Awesome fanbase with great cosplayers too! It makes me wonder what songs this Miku and Rin are in. Thanks to Riffonliner for emailing the photo!