NASA’s new Mars 2020 rover gets official name

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially given its new rover a name and it’s called Perseverance. It will send it to Mars this summer.

Prior to giving it a name, the rover was simply codenamed as Mars 2020.

From this point forward, it will be called Perseverance.

 

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28,000 entries. One winner: Perseverance. ?⁣ ⁣ With this new name, our Mars 2020 rover has now come to life! Chosen by middle school student Alex Mather, Perseverance helps to remind ourselves that no matter what obstacles we face, whether it’s on the way to reaching our goals or on the way to Mars, we will push through. In Alex’s own words, ⁣ ⁣ “We are a species of explorers, and we will meet many setbacks on the way to Mars. However, we can persevere. We, not as a nation but as humans, will not give up. The human race will always persevere into the future.” ⁣ ⁣ Set to launch July of this year, Perseverance will help us continue to push the boundaries of human exploration, while being our window into a new world. Welcome to the family.⁣ ❤️ ⁣ Image Credit: NASA ⁣ ⁣ #Perseverance #NASA #Mars #WelcomeHome #Explorer #LetsGo⁣

A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on Mar 5, 2020 at 11:32am PST

The name was obtained out of a school competition that drew 28,000 entries.

Perseverance will attempt to bring rocks from Mars back to Earth for study.

Scientists think this will be the best approach to establishing whether or not life has ever existed on Mars.

The rover naming competition asked children to submit their favored name along with a supporting 150-word essay.

An army of volunteers — educators, professionals and space enthusiasts — was employed to whittle down the avalanche of ideas into a more manageable shortlist of nine on which the public was then asked to vote.

NASA’s director of science, Thomas Zurbuchen, announced the winner.

The name Perseverance was suggested by Alexander Mather, a 13-year-old student from Virginia.

The competition follows in the tradition of previous Mars rover missions.

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