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Thanks to help from geocachers around the world, we deciphered the intergalactic communication we received last week. Here is the message:

Hello, earthlings! We have come across a reference to “Geocaching.com” on a metal creature roving the planet Mars. It seems this ‘geocaching’ is an activity meant to further exploration and community. We would like to better understand this interesting human activity and we are traveling to Earth to learn more. We only hope we’ll have enough fuel in our spaceship to keep exploring!

We’re excited to take this opportunity to further intergalactic friendship! Our friends from outer space are here and having a blast geocaching, but now they need our help. Their spaceship is running out of fuel, which they need in order to continue exploring other planets and galaxies. Luckily for us, we’re able to help them by doing what we do best: geocaching! The fuel their spaceship runs on is positive energy and what better way is there to build positive energy than getting together with friends and finding geocaches?

Join us on a Cosmic Quest from July 22 through September 1 as we help our friends fuel their spaceship. During Cosmic Quest, different geocaching activities will generate different amounts of fuel. If we reach 15 million units of fuel, the spaceship will be all set to launch our friends to their next cosmic destination.

During Cosmic Quest we will use the leaderboard to track the community’s progress toward this goal. On the leaderboard, players will be able to see how many units of fuel the global community has generated, available campaign souvenirs, and information about how many units of fuel different geocaching actions generate.

See the table below for information about how many units of fuel different geocaching actions generate:

*Logged a Found it on any other cache type, excluding Webcam Caches.

If we successfully fuel the spaceship, not only will we have the satisfaction of achieving a difficult goal as a community, all geocachers who took part will also earn a unique digital souvenir commemorating this visit from our intergalactic friends.

In addition to the Lift off souvenir that will be awarded if the goal is achieved, players will also have the chance to earn up to two souvenirs based on their individual contribution to the community goal. Players can earn the Super fuel cacher souvenir by generating 20 units of fuel and players can earn the Ultra fuel cacher souvenir by generating 100 units of fuel.

Geocachers can also get into the spirit of Cosmic Quest with all kinds of merchandise from Shop Geocaching and international distributors! Items in the Cosmic Quest collection include a geocoin and tag set, character trackable tags, patches, stickers, and more.

You can find answers to some frequently asked questions below.

How do I participate?
From Monday, July 22, 2024 at noon UTC through September 1, 2024, find geocaches and Adventures, attend Events, and activate trackables to generate units of fuel for our friends’ spaceship.

When does Cosmic Quest start and when does it end?
Cosmic Quest begins on July 22, 2024 at noon UTC and lasts through September 1.

How do I generate fuel for the cosmic visitors’ spaceship?
Geocachers can generate fuel for the cosmic visitors’ spaceship by finding geocaches and Adventures, attending Events, receiving Favorite points on their owned geocaches, and activating trackables. These different actions will generate different amounts of fuel. Above we have a table showing how many units of fuel different geocaching actions generate.

Where can I see how many units of fuel the community and I have generated so far?
Players can see the community’s fuel total and their individual contribution to that total on the leaderboard in the mobile app and on the website starting on July 22.

How do I earn souvenirs?
There are three available souvenirs for Cosmic Quest. To earn the Super fuel cacher souvenir, players must individually generate 20 units of fuel. To earn the Ultra fuel cacher souvenir, players must individually generate 100 units of fuel. All participants will earn the Lift off souvenir if we generate 15 million units of fuel as a global geocaching community.

Where can I see my souvenirs?
On the website you can view your souvenirs on the souvenir page linked on the dashboard, or on the Souvenirs section of your profile. In the Geocaching® app, you can see your souvenirs by tapping on the Souvenirs section in your profile.

The units of fuel aren’t adding up correctly, help!

• If you change a Write Note, DNF, or other log type to a Found it log, it will not be recognized for Cosmic Quest.
• You logged on Monday, July 22 before noon UTC (convert to your local time here). We suggest that you wait to log until AFTER Monday noon UTC—which in some places like New Zealand is Tuesday at midnight. Otherwise, the points will not count.
• You saved a Draft on a Monday, July 22 before noon UTC.

If you have already posted your logs, go to the log, select “View / Edit Log / Images,” then click the pen icon and “Submit Log Entry” on the website*. Your logs should now be counted towards your total.

*At this time, you can only edit your logs on Geocaching.com, not in the Geocaching® app.

What does UTC stand for?
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the basis for civil time today. It is the time standard (not a time zone) commonly used across the world. You can convert UTC to your local time here.