homehome Home chatchat Notifications


What will the Mars 2020 rover be called? You decide

You can choose out of 9 potential names proposed by school kids from all over the country.

Tibi Puiu
January 22, 2020 @ 2:33 pm

share Share

NASA’s next rover mission to Mars should depart for the Red Planet in 2020, tasked with hunting for signs of ancient life, as well as collecting samples and returning them to Earth. But before this happens, the rover needs a name. NASA has now launched a call to the public to vote what the rover should be called out of 9 candidate names.

Artist impression of NASA’s 2020 Mars rover. Credit: NASA.

The 9 possible names were selected as the finalists of a student naming contest organized by NASA for school children. Here’s a list of possible names for the Mars 2020 rover, tentatively named this way to reference its launch window, and the students who proposed them:

  • Endurance, K-4, Oliver Jacobs of Virgina.
  • Tenacity, K-4, Eamon Reilly of Pennsylvania.
  • Promise, K-4, Amira Shanshiry of Massachusetts.
  • Perseverance, 5-8, Alexander Mather of Virginia.
  • Vision, 5-8, Hadley Green of Mississippi.
  • Clarity, 5-8, Nora Benitez of California.
  • Ingenuity, 9-12, Vaneeza Rupani of Alabama.
  • Fortitude, 9-12, Anthony Yoon of Oklahoma.
  • Courage, 9-12, Tori Gray of Louisiana.

Everyone, from any country, is encouraged to pick their favorite in an online poll. The poll closes at midnight (05:00 GMT) on January 28.

All of NASA’s Mars rovers — Sojourner (1996), Spirit and Opportunity (2003), and Curiosity (2012) — were named by kids during student competitions. The Mars 2020 mission is no exception to this tradition.

Students across the US, ranging from kindergarten to high school, submitted more than 28,000 potential names for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. A panel of 4,700 volunteer judges shortlisted the proposals to 155 semifinalists, which was eventually cut down to 9 proposals. The nine student finalists are invited to discuss the names that they proposed in a panel including Lori Glaze (NASA Planetary Science Division director), Jessica Watkins (NASA astronaut), Nick Wiltsie (NASA-JPL rover driver), and Clara Ma (the winner of the 2009 competition that named the Curiosity rover; she was sixth-grade student at the time).

The Mars 2020 official name will be announced after the contest concludes in early March. The student who submitted the winning proposal will be invited to see the rover’s launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Mars 2020 will land on the Red Planet in February 2021, in Jezero Crater — the site of an ancient lake that had liquid water 3.5 billion years ago. The rover’s main mission is to collect samples, which would be returned to Earth by a subsequent mission in the future. NASA hopes to find signs of ancient life in the mineral deposits at the crater. The mission will also lay the groundwork for future manned missions to Mars by testing critical instruments that will study the Martian soil, weather, and atmosphere.

So, what’s your favorite name from the list? Share yours in the comments.

share Share

Mexico Will Give U.S. More Water to Avert More Tariffs

Droughts due to climate change are making Mexico increasingly water indebted to the USA.

Chinese Student Got Rescued from Mount Fuji—Then Went Back for His Phone and Needed Saving Again

A student was saved two times in four days after ignoring warnings to stay off Mount Fuji.

The perfect pub crawl: mathematicians solve most efficient way to visit all 81,998 bars in South Korea

This is the longest pub crawl ever solved by scientists.

This Film Shaped Like Shark Skin Makes Planes More Aerodynamic and Saves Billions in Fuel

Mimicking shark skin may help aviation shed fuel—and carbon

China Just Made the World's Fastest Transistor and It Is Not Made of Silicon

The new transistor runs 40% faster and uses less power.

Ice Age Humans in Ukraine Were Masterful Fire Benders, New Study Shows

Ice Age humans mastered fire with astonishing precision.

The "Bone Collector" Caterpillar Disguises Itself With the Bodies of Its Victims and Lives in Spider Webs

This insect doesn't play with its food. It just wears it.

University of Zurich Researchers Secretly Deployed AI Bots on Reddit in Unauthorized Study

The revelation has sparked outrage across the internet.

Giant Brain Study Took Seven Years to Test the Two Biggest Theories of Consciousness. Here's What Scientists Found

Both came up short but the search for human consciousness continues.

The Cybertruck is all tricks and no truck, a musky Tesla fail

Tesla’s baking sheet on wheels rides fast in the recall lane toward a dead end where dysfunctional men gather.