NASA is once again seeking public input to name a new mission. In this case, it’s a rover that is scheduled to launch in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012. Once on the red planet, the rover will use a set of advanced science instruments to check whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of such life. The rover also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for chemical building blocks of life.
Earlier this year, NASA solicited ideas and essays from students, and from those 9,000-plus entries, winnowed the field down to nine names. The student who submitted the winning name will be invited to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, to sign the rover. And all 30 student semi-finalists will have an opportunity to place an individually-tailored message on a microchip that will be carried on the car-sized robotic explorer. NASA is also offering everyone else the chance to “Send Your Name to Mars,” via the contest web site.
The nine finalist names are: Adventure, Amelia, Curiosity, Journey, Perception, Pursuit, Sunrise, Vision, and Wonder. Voting is open now, and will close on 29 March. To help choose the name, and to send yours along, see this page.