Nicknaming Curiosity, What will you be calling her? Options

[vikingmars]

PS. Curiosity really needs a "nickname", like Oppy. How about "MC"? Any suggestions?

Yes good idea to nickname the rover.
I'm using "MSL" as some others still do at JPL... and I'm now happy with it.
The more simple nickname following traditions would be the use of "CR", standing for "Curiosity Rover", using the rule set for Viking ("VL" standing for "Viking Lander")...
... And if you want a nickname like "Oppy", then call it "Curry" : I'm sure this will help scientists find their much-wanted "spicy" rocks at Gale

[centsworth_II]

...following traditions would be the use of "CR", standing for "Curiosity Rover"...

Or in today's lingo, C-Ro.

[jmknapp]

How about Curie? The RAD team might like it.

[vikingmars]

How about Curie? The RAD team might like it.

Yes : "Curie" is an excellent idea.
Besides, it would make a lot of sense since the small test-bed "Marie-Curie" rover (the sister rover of Sojourner), named by JPL, was never sent to Mars unfortunately, although it was planned to be refurbished for the ill-fated "Mars Surveyor 2001" mission...
This would pay also a nice (and much-deserved) tribute to the success of the rover and robotics teams at JPL

[elakdawalla]

That's what I've been thinking too Though I may end up pronouncing it "Curry"

[djellison]

Yes : "Curie" is an excellent idea.
Besides, it would make a lot of sense since the small test-bed "Marie-Curie" rover (the sister rover of Sojourner), named by JPL, was never sent to Mars unfortunately,

I would have thought the fact that there is already another rover with Curie in its name would be a reason NOT to call Curiosity 'Curie'.

[fredk]

The idea of caller her "Curie" goes back a long time. I'd say it's too good a nickname to ignore, with the radiation connection. We can simply decide to always refer to the test-bed rover as "Marie Curie" to distinguish it. I can't see that leading to any confusion in practice.

[chris]

How about Clara (after the girl who came up with the name "Curiosity")?

[elakdawalla]

If there can be 10 Enterprises, surely there can be two Curies In any case, no amount of discussion here is going to result in the world adopting the nickname we choose. It will happen on its own, and she may wind up with many nicknames.

[jmknapp]

If there can be 10 Enterprises, surely there can be two Curies

Plus, in the words of Amy Farrah Fowler, "We can be like Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, who spent days working side by side in the glow of their love and the radium that ultimately killed her. Screw Beauty and the Beast, that's the love story Disney should tell."

[djellison]

For the sake of the four characters of difference between Curie/Curry and Curiosity...I'll be sticking with its full name.

[mcaplinger]

FWIW and just to get on the record here, it's an "it" and its name is MSL. Call me a soulless engineer if you wish.

Apostrophe error there, Doug, I recommend reading "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves":
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-T...n/dp/1592400876

[RoverDriver]

For the sake of the four characters of difference between Curie/Curry and Curiosity...I'll be sticking with it's full name.

While I strongly believe curiosity is one of the main characteristics of a good engineer, I don't think I will ever be able to call MSL with that name.

Paolo

[akuo]

Well, Marie Curie will be just "Marie" when she ends up on Mars

[jasedm]

Sorry to be curmudgeonly, but I think I'm with Doug and mcaplinger here - the cute-ification of these machines does make me a tad uncomfortable, as do the sometimes toe-curlingly contrived acronyms for various experiments aboard unmanned spacecraft.

I'm totally in awe of the engineering, skill,vision and determination that brings these craft from concept to reality, but the anthropomorphizing, for me, very slightly trivialises the achievement.

(I'll get my slippers....)