New Mars Rover: ‘Curiosity’

May 29, 2009 – Washington, D.C. — Spirit and Opportunity are already roaming Mars, helping scientists learn more about the Red Planet. But now the newest rover that will join in the exploration when it is launched in 2011 has a name, thanks to a 12-year-old girl from Kansas. Clara Ma from the Sunflower Elementary School in Lenexa submitted the winning entry, "Curiosity,” for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover. As her prize, Ma wins a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California 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. "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. 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," she said. " In her essay, Ma wrote: "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.” Click here to read her entire essay. The naming contest was conducted in partnership with Disney-Pixar's animated film "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. You can still add your electronic signature by clicking here. "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.

Clara Ma, winner of the Mars Science Laboratory naming contest. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Artist concept of Mars Science Laboratory. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection of internal and external views of Curiosity. Click here for the online experience.

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