Government

Meet the Teen Girl Who Got to Name the Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’

Meet Clara Ma the teen Who named the NASA Rover CuriosityCuriosity is the name of the  NASA rover that landed safely on Mars and is now crawling around the surface the red planet. According to NASA’s mission statement, the high tech robot has a big job to do:

 Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet’s “habitability.”

So far, all of the news about the $2.5 billion dollar mission is good news.

After hearing the name Curiosity over and over — all weekend — I wondered how NASA came up with the name for the vehicle. As it turns out, NASA didn’t name the rover. Rather, Clara Ma — a young student — did. Back in 2009, Ms. Ma wrote an essay that won a contest to name the vehicle that would wander the surface of Mars some three years in the future.

Meet Clara Ma the teen Who named the NASA Rover Curiosity

Photo credit: Mike Wall / Space.com

 

Last night, as the science world was focused on Pasadena, CA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Ma (now 15 years-old) was in attendance. She was invited to witness the historic landing, just as she was invited to watch the rocket that launched Curiosity back in November of 2011. The high school student joined a select group of special guests that included:

  • Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek”)
  • Morgan Freeman (from “Deep Impact” and “Through the Wormhole”)
  • Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher on “Star Trek: Next Generation”)
  • June Lockhart (from “Lost in Space”)

“I saw an article about the Mars Rover and how you can name it and how the girl who named the two Mars Rovers before me, she had entered a contest and won,” she told KCAL-TV. “And I thought that would be an amazing thing for me to try and do.”

She eventually beat out 9,000 other students.

“I feel so proud that I named the Rover and they chose my name.”

Before the vehicle was fired into space, Ma was invited to put her signature on the side of the rover. Today, the young lady’s name is rolling around the surface of Mars!

Here‘s Clara Ma’s prize winning essay (and let’s remember that she wrote this three years ago):

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, ‘Why is the sky blue?’, ‘Why do the stars twinkle?’, ‘Why am I me?’, and I still do. I had so many questions, and America is the place where I want to find my answers. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Sure, there are many risks and dangers, but despite that, we still continue to wonder and dream and create and hope. We have discovered so much about the world, but still so little. We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much.

During a press conference held after Curiosity had successfully landed on Mars, Clara Ma was overheard saying that she would love to work for NASA one day.

NASA should be so lucky.

Comments (24)

  • Red Barr 13
    Posted on August 7, 2012 at 5:12am

    That is what I call good news.

    Report Post » Red Barr 13  
  • Red Barr 13
    Posted on August 7, 2012 at 5:08am

    I like it when there is good news instead of the same news that’s on every day dealing with murder rape.

    Report Post » Red Barr 13  
  • scuffy
    Posted on August 7, 2012 at 1:21am

    I wonder if there are any liberal living on Mars. You know the ones on welfare and food stamps !!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • januscatinhat
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 10:11pm

    Bet she will eventually work for NASA. Bet she will one day happen upon truth hidden from our view and bet then she will curiously, properly and eagerly expose for our review. True to form, however, truth is often stranger than fiction, so there she will be having to buffer herself from the naysayers who don’t care much for truth, but more for “fitting in with their favored crowd”. Oh well. We of curiosity will carry on anyway no matter what may come…

    Report Post »  
  • pecosval
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 8:39pm

    I love smart kids…..from anywhere on earth!

    Report Post »  
  • Platonician
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 5:58pm

    Wonderful girl, wonderful story! That’s American exeptionalism at work!
    Muslims prefer to rape girls her age or burn their faces with acid when they try to attend school, oh don’t draw conclusions, Obama said all cultures are exceptional.

    Report Post » Platonician  
  • as_mad_as_hell
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 5:24pm

    I guess this is supposed to brighten our day somehow. My reaction is “who cares?”

    Report Post »  
  • blair152
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 3:54pm

    We need more kids like her.

    Report Post »  
  • rfycom
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 3:48pm

    big use of brains on that one

    Report Post »  
  • lylejk
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 3:37pm

    Fantastic name; well chosen Ms. Ma. Hope Curiosity grows to deserve it’s name and out of curiosity find something that motivates us to explore outer space once again. First, we need to find a viable near free energy source and maybe e-CAT will be the real deal. Also, if hot fusion is required, then maybe we can get back to the moon to mine He3 (yes, it woud be that cost effective to do if he can get enough He3 for viable nuclear fusion (Hydrogen produces too many radicals to be feasible for sustained nuclear fusion). Once energy, for all pratical purposes, becomes free, then we can do what has been man’s desire since the begin. Explore. It’s what we were designed to do. Spread forth (well multiply too. ;) ). :)

    Report Post » lylejk  
  • fieldwork
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:39pm

    A sliver of sunlight amid the many black sails on an increasingly dark horizon.

    Report Post »  
  • Dumpster Baby
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:12pm

    Typical. Now 0bummer is letting the Chinese name our Mars rovers.

    Report Post »  
    • TreeTrimmerJim
      Posted on August 12, 2012 at 9:31am

      Are you sure she is not American?

      What prevented you from winning the same opportunity? Bush?

      Report Post » TreeTrimmerJim  
  • Reconstructed leftist
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:11pm

    Baloney. NASA already had the name CURIOSITY. They merely gave the ‘win’ to the first contestant who submitted that name. Not difficult.

    Report Post » Reconstructed leftist  
  • DarthMims
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:11pm

    Wow! This story is truly amazing and inspiring on a lot of levels. I didn’t even know June Lockhart was still alive!

    Report Post » DarthMims  
  • Dumpster Baby
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 1:06pm

    Great. Now Obummer is letting the Chinese name our Mars rovers. Can you say Communist.

    Report Post »  
  • ThoreauHD
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 12:44pm

    What’s with these bot posts? Multiple random comments that have nothing to do with anything.

    Report Post » ThoreauHD  
  • ThePostman
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 12:43pm

    Another thing that curiosity is driving us to learn is “how big can the debt get before the dollar collapses?”. Our president has created a bold vision to answer this question within the next 5 years.

    We should all celebrate Obama for his bold vision to unlock the answers to these amazing questions.

    NOT.

    Report Post »  
  • brother_ed
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 12:35pm

    What a cool thing that is for this young girl!

    Congrats to her and her parents.

    Report Post » brother_ed  
  • just the facts
    Posted on August 6, 2012 at 12:05pm

    I’m happy this young lady was to become part of this project even in the smallest way.Young lady, embrace this moment.

    Report Post »  

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