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Thursday May 28, 2009
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NASA has selected a sixth-grade student's entry and named its new Mars Rover Curiosity. 12-year-old Clara Ma has won a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., where she will be able to sign the rover as it is being built. The new flagship rover, originally called the Mars Science Laboratory, will launch in 2011.
The agency said in a statement that they selected the name following a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals, both over the Internet and via snail mail. The panel considered the quality of the essays, as well as name suggestions from the project leaders and a non-binding public poll.
NASA describes the mission as a long duration rover equipped to "assess the biological potential of at least one target area, characterize the local geology and geochemistry, investigate planetary processes relevant to habitability, including the role of water, and to characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation." JPL, which is heading up the mission, is planning for it to last at least one martian year, or 687 days.
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May 28, 2009 10:31 PM
A fitting name! Well chosen. :)