Students to Name the Next Mars Rover

From the time Ray Bradbury wrote The Martian Chronicles in the 1950’s, exploration of Mars has always been a topic that could catch the public’s fancy.  And now, NASA is endeavoring to ensure that Mars exploration will be able to kindle the fancy of the next generation as well. One of their key ways of doing this is a contest which invites students to name the next Rover setting off to Mars.

The contest for the perfect name for the Rover began on November 18, and is open to all students from age 5 to 18. In order for the name to be eligible, the student must submit an essay that explains what makes their name stand out from all the others, with the deadline for submitting names being January 29th. “As the rover comes together and begins to take shape, the whole team can’t wait to call it by name,” according to John Clein, Deputy Project Manager of the Mars Science Laboratory.    

However, NASA has taken the contest one step further. Due to a National Space Agreement, Walt Disney’s new robotic character, WALL-E, from the movie of the same name, will be featured in online contests. WALL-E will be there, encouraging reluctant young viewers to enter the contest.  “All of us at Disney are delighted to be working with NASA in its educational and public outreach efforts to teach schoolchildren about space exploration, robot technology and the universe in which they live,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group. “WALL-E is one of the most lovable and entertaining characters that Pixar has ever created, and he is the perfect spokes-robot for this program.”  The Space Act agreement between Disney and NASA covers far more than simply WALL-E’s role in this contest. The agreement was designed to use the appeal of Wall-E in other public educational/outreach activities, a bargain that, if the above quote was anything to go by, Disney was eager to strike.

Disney’s part in this contest goes even farther than that, since the prizes given to the young finalists will be provided by Disney. One that is particularly cool is a trip to NASA’s jet propulsion lab in Pasadena, California. The Grand Prize is grand indeed!  Along with a trip to the park, the winning essayist will have a chance to put their signature on the Rover. What a fascinating thought—that a device you named along with your own signature will touch the soil of another planet. It is, at any rate, the sort of grand gesture Americans have always adored.

And this Rover in particular deserves a special name, because it will greatly further our exploration of Mars. It will show if a carefully selected landing environment has ever had the ability to support life, searching out minerals that form in the presence of water, as well as other chemical building blocks essential for survival.  It will also however have a number of other purposes. Some of these assignments include imaging its surroundings in high definition, using high-powered lasers to analyze rocks, analyzing rocks/soil with a six foot robotic arm and cooking and sniffing rock powder to determine what sort of minerals and other chemicals are present within it.

If you are as eager as I am to have a shot at deciding what that name will be, go to: http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov where more information about the contest is available.