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Martian Naming Madness
Macblaster writes "With the rise of robotic exploration of Mars, scientists are having difficulty naming all the new features they're discovering. Accepted name lists have fallen by the wayside, and now scientifically important features are named after everything from 80's bands to romantic interests." From the article: "Like European explorers who named the New World after their homes in the Old, the Mars scientists have filled the strange landscape of the Red Planet with a mishmash of modern life on Earth. The twin rover missions have forced scientists to come up with more than 4,000 names to mark everything from the majestic Columbia Hills to a few pebbles in the sand. The result is an extravagantly labeled map punctuated by the scientists' ever-changing preoccupations with history, holidays, monkeys, ice cream, cartoon characters, sushi, Mayan words, Scandinavian fish delicacies ... the list goes on and on."
The main features have for the most part, followed the convention. But mostly, we are talking about naming a soil type or small boulders that here on earth would have no special name (unless something significant happened on them). These names simply allow the scientists to call something somewhat more descriptive than say "rock145".
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
They did. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spiri t/20041104a.html.
i t/20041104a/04-RA-04-Lutefisk-A298R1_br.jpg
Here is a direct link to the image http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spir
The whole idea of naming Martian items is because they have scientific importance, or are geographically important. The rovers probably look very closely at some items, so it's convenient to name even tiny items rather than just saying "that rock/plateau/hill over there".
garble
Actually, one name on your list isn't confected or random: Kenyatta.
Jomo Kenyatta was the first leader of the modern state of Kenya, and is a hero to many, especially among African-Americans.
So naming a kid "Kenyatta" is a little like naming him "Jefferson" or "Franklin".
I'm not even American, and I take grave offence at your comments. Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, William McCool and their colleagues were astronauts who were killed when Columbia burned and broke up on re-entry (You know, Columbia, the space shuttle).
Whilst naming after not-very-dead-yet people seems to be in conflict with international protocol, I can't think of too many more appropriate names for a group of significant landmarks. Those folks died exploring, doing *exactly* what the Mars missions are about. I'm pleased and proud to hear that significant landmarks on Mars have been named after them.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
So as long as you use the metareference, you're okay :)
This is not serious at all. The names are without a doubt temporary used by the NASA employees for charting. Its quite a bit easier to remember something that sounds completely retarded compared to a couple numbers and letters.
It's sad to see that such a piece of uninformed disinformation could make it past the Yahoo and LA Times editorial staff. It is nothing but a dumb rant from a clueless journalist. Then again, in science reporting that is nothing new.
karma capped
It's not really that big a problem. Just because it's named one thing doesn't mean it can't be changed. Just ask the people of St. Petersburg^W Petrograd^W Leningrad^W St. Petersburg, they've been through four names in the last hundred years (and only to get back where they started too). It's no big deal, names can be set now, and changed later, and if not, hey, it'll be funny to mock people living in "Spongebob!".