HOW DOES NASA NAME THINGS ON MARS?🤔🤯

Tina Seeger: Well, in the ’90s, they came up with names on the fly. And that’s why you got silly names like “Barnacle Bill,” “Indiana Jones.” But now we compile a list of names ahead of time based on different themes. We draw a grid on the map where each square is a different quadrant that represents a different theme. Curiosity has used names from South America, Scotland; Perseverance uses names from national parks around the world.

Marina Jurica: How were these names decided?

Tina Seeger: Names can come from anywhere in your imagination. Going back to Pathfinder, a rock looked like the face of Yogi Bear and got the name “Yogi Rock.” This meteorite is “Heat Shield Rock,” which sits near debris from Opportunity's heat shield. Drilled rock samples that Perseverance has dropped for collection, also have names like “Bearwallow,” which is named after a hiking trail in Shenandoah National Park. One of my favorite Curiosity targets is called “Bonanza King,” which is named after the Bonanza King Rock formation near Death Valley. Here we see an area that resembles a strip of bacon when viewed from space. So we jokingly called it the “Bacon Strip.” Since arriving at the site with Perseverance, we had to give it a name that fit the Shenandoah theme. So we chose “Hogwallow Flats.”

Marina Jurica: If you could come up with a name for a rock, what would it be?

Tina Seeger: I spent seven summers as the Night Skies ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, so I'd probably pick something named after Mount Rainier or a place that's special to me inside the park. Luckily, I got to map the Mount Rainier quadrant in Jezero Crater. So if we drive through it, that dream might become a reality.

Marina Jurica: To get the latest updates on Curiosity and Perseverance, follow @NASAJPL and @NASAMars on social media. Or take a deeper dive at mars.nasa.gov.