![]() Thomas Zurbuchen Congratulates Rover Naming Contest Winner: NASA's Thomas Zurbuchen and Lori Glaze congratulate Alexander Mather during a March 5, 2020, celebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Refusal of the challenge was not an option." "This Mars rover will help pave the way for human presence there, and I wanted to try and help in any way I could. "This was a chance to help the agency that put humans on the Moon and will soon do it again," said Mather. When the call went out for students to propose a name for NASA's new Mars rover, Mather knew he wanted to contribute. From his first glimpse of a Saturn V - the rocket that launched the Apollo astronauts to the Moon half a century ago - Mather became a bona fide space enthusiast, checking daily, consuming astronaut autobiographies and even 3D-printing flyable model rockets. ![]() That all changed in the summer of 2018, when he visited Space Camp in Alabama. Full image and caption ›Up until two years ago, Mather was more interested in video games than space. The laser-etched plate serves as a rock and debris shield that will protect a flexible electrical cable. Mars Perseverance Nameplate: This image of the nameplate secured to the arm of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover was taken at a payload servicing facility at Kennedy Space Center soon after being attached on March 4, 2020. The nine finalists also talked with a panel of experts, including Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins rover driver Nick Wiltsie at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California and Clara Ma, who, as a sixth grade student in 2009, named Curiosity. Once that group was whittled down to nine finalists, the public had five days to weigh in on their favorites, logging more than 770,000 votes online, with the results submitted to NASA for consideration. Nearly 4,700 volunteer judges – educators, professionals and space enthusiasts from around the country – reviewed submissions to help narrow the pool down to 155 semifinalists. The contest that resulted in Alex's winning entry of Perseverance began Aug. The image was taken on March 4, 2020, at a payload processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Showing Perseverance: Members of JPL's assembly, test and launch operations team for NASA's Perseverance mission show appreciation for their newly named rover.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |