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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary Society Creates a Name for Space ObjectsIn the past, The Planetary Society has sponsored or co-sponsored naming contests that have given titles to five spacecraft, Magellan, Beagle, Sojourner, Spirit, and Opportunity, and three asteroids, Bonestell, Nereus, and Braille.
MagellanThe first naming contest the Society mounted was to suggest a name for NASA's Venus Radar Mapper Project. NASA's Office for Earth and Planetary Exploration invited members of The Planetary Society, along with members of the Venus Radar Mapper Project, to help pick a name for the new mission. The Society announced the contest in the November/December 1983 issue of The Planetary Report with a January 16, 1984 deadline for postcard submissions. Members submitted more than 500 entries in that limited timeframe. Two years later, NASA officially chose the name Magellan for the spacecraft, the same name that topped the list of entries submitted by The Planetary Society. As 14 members submitted that same name, the winner of the Society contest, Nicholas Cognito, was the one whose entry bore the earliest postmark. His award was an all-expense paid trip to mission control at JPL.
BeagleIn 1994, the Society sponsored an international student contest to name a Russian Mars rover prototype. The Society was helping Russian space scientists and engineers to conduct tests with the rover in California's Mojave Desert. As with the contest that named Magellan, The Planetary Society submitted its top ten choices to a committee of Russian officials from Russia's Space Research Institute, Mobile Vehicle Engineering Institute and Babakin Center, NPO Lavochkin. Four hundred children, aged 9 to 13, entered the contest. They represented nine countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The winning entry was submitted by 12-year-old James Byrne of Canada. He suggested naming the rover the Beagle after Darwin's renowned ship of exploration.
SojournerThe Planetary Society initiated a contest to suggest a name for NASA's Mars Microrover on the Pathfinder mission in March 1994, in cooperation with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The three main criteria for contest entries were that students be born in 1976 or later (making them 18 years old or younger the year the contest began), that the rover be named after a female explorer, and that each entry be accompanied by a written essay explaining the choice of name. From the 3,500 entries received, the Society selected the name Sojourner, named after Sojourner Truth, as most appropriate. Because more than one student suggested that name, the selection committee relied on the essays to choose the winner, 12-year-old Valerie Ambroise. NASA was pleased with the name suggested and named the rover Sojourner, crediting Ambroise with writing the winning essay.
Spirit and OpportunityIn 2003, The Planetary Society joined with the LEGO company to run a naming
contest for the Mars Exploration Rovers, until then known only as MER-A
and MER-B. The Planetary Society convened a judging panel that whittled
the approximately 10,000 entries down to 33, from which NASA chose the winning
student and her entry: Sofi Collis, a 9-year-old, 3rd-grade student from
Arizona. In her essay, she submitted "Spirit" and "Opportunity" as
her suggested names for the two rovers. As part of the prize, Sofi
and her family were flown to Cape Canaveral to participate in a press
conference unveiling the rovers' names and to watch the launch of the
newly-named Spirit. BonestellThe Planetary Society's first contest to name an asteroid was announced in the May/June 1985 issue of The Planetary Report. Eleanor Helin, director of The Planetary Society and World Space Foundation Asteroid Project, and S.J. Bus discovered asteroid (3129) 1979MK2 in 1979. In appreciation of Planetary Society support of the asteroid discovery project, Helin allowed members the opportunity to suggest a more colorful name for the asteroid to replace its numerical designation. From hundreds of entries, the Society chose Bonestell in honor of famed astronomical artist, Chesley Bonestell, who was then 98 years old and very pleased with the honor. The winner was given an original painting of an asteroid as his prize. NereusOur next contest to name an asteroid was held in 1991, and again, Eleanor Helin gave Society members a chance to suggest a name for a celestial body. The chosen name, Nereus -- a benevolent Greek sea god -- was especially appropriate for a near-Earth asteroid. Winner Robert Cutler pointed out that the name sounded like the words "near us" which aptly describe an Earth-crossing asteroid.
BrailleThe Planetary Society's most recent asteroid naming contest was to choose a name for the asteroid targeted by NASA's Deep Space 1 mission. Helin, lead discoverer of the asteroid known as 1992KD, selected the name Braille from the hundreds of suggestions submitted to the Society in a 1999 contest to name the asteroid. Louis Braille, inventor of the raised-dot alphabet for the blind that bears his name, seemed a fitting name for an object that humans must explore through an extension of our senses rather than through eyesight alone. Winner Kerry Babcock suggested that just as the braille alphabet enables those who cannot see to obtain new knowledge, asteroid Braille will provide knowledge about our universe to people who cannot see its origins.
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