Roll Over, Rover

If you're like me, you think that "Jezero Crater" is one of the men vying for the honor of playing second base for the Orioles this year, and that means neither of us know much about Mars.

Mars is a planet, and we are interested in seeing what goes on there, so we have rovers roving around the place, including the Curiosity rover, the InSight stationary lander, and several Mars orbiters flying overhead.

And NASA is about to send a new rover up there this year, so they have a contest going on to pick the name for the machine. Students in grades K-12 submitted 28,000 potential names. 4,700 volunteer judges cut down the list to 155 semifinalists, and now that list is down to 9.

It's like the Wimbledon brackets, only without the annoying tennisness.


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 whittled that list down to 155 semifinalists.

Here they are, and we have to choose before liftoff this summer:

• Endurance, (Kindergarten to 4th grade, by Oliver Jacobs of Virginia)
• Tenacity, (Kindergarten to 4th grade, by Eamon Reilly of Pennsylvania)
• Promise, (Kindergarten to 4th grade, by Amira Shanshiry of Massachusetts)
• Perseverance, (5th to 8th grade, by Alexander Mather of Virginia)
• Vision, (5th to 8th grade, by Hadley Green of Mississippi)
• Clarity, (5th to 8th grade, by Nora Benitez of California)
• Ingenuity, (9th to 12th grade, by Vaneeza Rupani of Alabama)
• Fortitude, (9th to 12th grade, by Anthony Yoon of Oklahoma)
• Courage, (9th to 12th grade, by Tori Gray of Louisiana)

I note with dismay that the following names were overlooked:

• Elvis
• Leon
• Beep Beep Yr'Ass
• Lynyrd
• Skynyrd

Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, says, "Thousands of students have shared their ideas for a name that will do our rover and the team proud. Thousands more volunteered time to be part of the judging process. Now it is the public's opportunity to become involved and express their excitement for their favorites of the final nine."

My Rover would have decals
like this and Yosemite Sam
mud flaps

Once the poll closes, each contestant will speak to a panel that includes Glaze; NASA rover driver Nick Wiltsie; NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins; and Clara Ma, who named the Curiosity rover when she was a sixth-grade student in 2009. 

At first glance, I thought it said that Nick Wiltsie was a NASCAR driver, and that would have been funnier.

After all this, the decision will be made, just in time to have someone letter the name on the expensive Marsmobile.

The winning name  will be announced on March 15. The student will also get to go to Florida in July, which is as close as one can come to Hell on Earth, to see  the launch from Cape Canaveral.

It turns out that Jezero Crater is the site of a lake that existed 3.5 billion years ago. Mitch McConnell and his first wife honeymooned there when it was new.