[meteorite-list] NASA Announces Asteroid Naming Contest for Students

[Ron Baalke]

Sept. 4, 2012

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

Nancy Neal-Jones / Elizabeth Zubritsky 
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
301-286-0039 / 301-614-5438 
nancy.n.jones at nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.zubritsky at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 12-302

NASA ANNOUNCES ASTEROID NAMING CONTEST FOR STUDENTS

WASHINGTON -- Students worldwide have an opportunity to name an 
asteroid from which an upcoming NASA mission will return the first 
samples to Earth. 

Scheduled to launch in 2016, the mission is called the 
Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource 
Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx). Samples 
returned from the primitive surface of the near-Earth asteroid 
currently called (101955) 1999 RQ36 could hold clues to the origin of 
the solar system and organic molecules that may have seeded life on 
Earth. NASA also is planning a crewed mission to an asteroid by 2025. 
A closer scientific study of asteroids will provide context and help 
inform this mission. 

"Because the samples returned by the mission will be available for 
study for future generations, it is possible the person who names the 
asteroid will grow up to study the regolith we return to Earth," said 
Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space 
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 

The competition is open to students under age 18 from anywhere in the 
world. Each contestant can submit one name, up to 16 characters long. 
Entries must include a short explanation and rationale for the name. 
Submissions must be made by an adult on behalf of the student. The 
contest deadline is Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. 

The contest is a partnership with The Planetary Society in Pasadena, 
Calif.; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln 
Laboratory in Lexington; and the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

A panel will review proposed asteroid names. First prize will be 
awarded to the student who recommends a name that is approved by the 
International Astronomical Union Committee for Small-Body 
Nomenclature. 

"Our mission will be focused on this asteroid for more than a decade," 
said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for the mission at the 
University of Arizona. "We look forward to having a name that is 
easier to say than (101955) 1999 RQ36." 

The asteroid was discovered in 1999 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid 
Research (LINEAR) survey at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. LINEAR is part 
of NASA's Near Earth Observation Program in Washington, which detects 
and catalogs near-Earth asteroids and comets. The asteroid has an 
average diameter of approximately one-third of a mile (500 meters). 

"We are excited to have discovered the minor planet that will be 
visited by the OSIRIS-REx mission and to be able to engage students 
around the world to suggest a name for 1999 RQ36," said Grant Stokes, 
head of the Aerospace Division at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and 
principal investigator for the LINEAR program. 

The asteroid received its designation of (101955) 1999 RQ36 from the 
Minor Planet Center, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical 
Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. The center assigns an initial 
alphanumeric designation to any newly discovered asteroid once 
certain criteria are met to determine its orbit. 

"Asteroids are just cool and 1999 RQ36 deserves a cool name!" said 
Bill Nye, chief executive officer for The Planetary Society. 
"Engaging kids around the world in a naming contest will get them 
tuned in to asteroids and asteroid science." 

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will provide overall mission 
management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. 
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will build the spacecraft. 
OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. 
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New 
Frontiers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

To review contest rules and guidelines, visit: 

http://planetary.org/name 

To see a video explanation about the contest, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/name-asteroid.html 

For information about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: 

http://osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu 

-end-