MSL Naming? Options

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Actually, I prefer Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

[nprev]

Based on MSL's monster-truck-like aspects, I'm thinking "Marsasaurus"...

[dvandorn]

They can call it BunwhacketbuzzardstoppingQWalrusTitty for all I care - as long as it works

It will only be given a name like *that* if they give the naming rights to Monty Python...

-the other Doug

edit -- serves me right for responding to a post at the bottom of a page before looking at the next page...

[dvandorn]

Now, opening up the Rocky and Bullwinkle universe for naming gives you *tons* of possibilities.

For example -- for a pair of spacecraft, Boris and Natasha would work quite well. For a single spacecraft, you could anything from Peter Peachfuzz to Fearless Leader -- or even the enigmatic "J." And, of course, a high-latitude landing site would be Frostbite Falls.

And what would the mission be? Well, it's obvious -- "Follow the Upsydasium!"



-the other Doug

"Hey, Rocky -- watch me pull phyllosilicate clays out of my hat!"

[djellison]

'Crushinator' could be good.

[AndyG]

'Crushinator' could be good.

You beat me to it. But as long as it doesn't act like Malfunctioning Eddie, I'll be happy.

Andy

[algorimancer]

I'd back Serenity or Heinlein or Feynman as names. Let me throw in "Zoidberg". Space exploration can be fun too

Unfortunately they'll probably end up letting some kid who thinks Mars is a candy bar pick some lame name, probably after one of the Teletubbies

[centsworth_II]

I guess Bigfoot is taken.

[hendric]

Oh come on, that's not fair at all. Having a contest to name a Mars rover is, more than likely, going to automatically eliminate kids who "think Mars is a candy bar". After all, a kid with the initiative to goto nasa.gov or planetary.org is way ahead of the curve. I think the last kid to name Mars rovers did a fantastic job, and was very prophetic with the names. Just think of the names for a second:

Spirit

Opportunity

What better names could we choose for these two? Spirit, that had to fight wheel and solar panel up a mountain to find evidence of water? Opportunity, which found not one, not two, but three craters with outcrops and blueberries?

(Shoot, I get teary-eyed just thinking about all they've done and survived so far.)

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

How about Ark III?

Of course, fans of 1970s TV will recall the six-wheeled mobile laboratory Ark II.

[centsworth_II]

How about Ark III?

Yikes! Makes me think of MSL as host to a menagerie
of Earthly microbes. Don't like the sound of that.

[MarsIsImportant]

After seeing the size of the rover scarecrow, it should have a large instrument package on top when it lands (let's hope it is all there after it lands). The rover team should have a lot of fun with all those gadgets. Since its mission will be scientific analysis, I propose to name the Mars rover, "Inspector".

[elakdawalla]

As in Inspector Gadget?

(That's what I think of.)

"Go-go, gadget Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument!"

--Emily

[punkboi]

"Dumb" and "Dumber" would've been a good name if both MERs didn't land safely on the red planet.

Or "Itchy and Scratchy" if you want to honor The Simpsons...

"Big Bertha" is my choice for MSL...in honor of the giant howitzer used by the, um, Germans in WWI, the line of golf clubs...and that lady wrestler who pummeled Al Bundy in one episode of "Married with Children." It's been gone for 10 years and I still love watching reruns of that TV show.

[monty python]

Even though Married With Children IS one of the greatest shows ever made, it can't be Big Bertha. A large rock at a previous lander location had its name changed from big bertha to big joe because the former was seen as sexist.

Perhaps a two word name; the first being an innocuous human name and the second some kind of snake representing the long set of wheel tracks it leaves.