[meteorite-list] NASA Selects Student's Entry as New Mars Rover Name (MSL)

[Ron Baalke]

May 27, 2009

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Alan Buis/Carolina Martinez 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 
818-354-0474/9382 
alan.buis at jpl.nasa.gov 
carolina.martinez at jpl.nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 09-122

NASA SELECTS STUDENT'S ENTRY AS NEW MARS ROVER NAME

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for 
launch in 2011, has a new name thanks to a sixth-grade student from 
Kansas. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma from the Sunflower Elementary school 
in Lenexa submitted the winning entry, "Curiosity." As her prize, Ma 
wins a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, 
Calif., where she will be invited to sign her name directly onto the 
rover as it is being assembled. 

A NASA panel selected the name following a nationwide student contest 
that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. 
The panel primarily took into account the quality of submitted 
essays. Name suggestions from the Mars Science Laboratory project 
leaders and a non-binding public poll also were considered. 

"Students from every state suggested names for this rover. That's 
testimony to the excitement Mars missions spark in our next 
generation of explorers," said Mark Dahl, the mission's program 
executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Many of the nominating 
essays were excellent and several of the names would have fit well. I 
am especially pleased with the choice, which recognizes something 
universally human and essential to science." 

Ma decided to enter the rover-naming contest after she heard about it 
at her school. 

"I was really interested in space, but I thought space was something I 
could only read about in books and look at during the night from so 
far away," Ma said. "I thought that I would never be able to get 
close to it, so for me, naming the Mars rover would at least be one 
step closer." 

"Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It 
makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life 
will throw at me that day," Ma wrote in her winning essay. "Curiosity 
is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are 
today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday 
lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask 
questions and to wonder." 

The naming contest was conducted in partnership with Disney-Pixar's 
animated film "WALL-E." The activity invited ideas from students 5 - 
18 years old enrolled in a U.S. school. The contest started in 
November 2008. Entries were accepted until midnight Jan. 25. 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures supplied the prizes for the 
contest, including 30 for semifinalists related to "WALL-E." Nine 
finalists have been invited to provide messages to be placed on a 
microchip mounted on Curiosity. The microchip also will contain the 
names of thousands of people around the world who have "signed" their 
names electronically via the Internet. Additional electronic 
signatures still are being accepted via the Internet. 

"We have been eager to call the rover by name," said Pete Theisinger, 
who manages the JPL team building and testing Curiosity. "Giving it a 
name worthy of this mission's quest means a lot to the people working 
on it." 

Curiosity will be larger and more capable than any craft previously 
sent to land on the Red Planet. It will check to see whether the 
environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for 
supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life. The rover 
also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water 
and look for several chemical building blocks of life. 

The Mars Science Laboratory project is managed by JPL for NASA's 
Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

For more information about the mission and the contest winner, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/msl 

To send your name on the rover microchip, visit: 

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname 
	
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