Vote For Your Favorite Mars 2020 Rover Name

NASA's next Mars rover launches in 2020. (Photo Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech)

America is in the midst of an important election: Choosing a name for NASA’s next Mars rover.

From more than 28,000 “Name the Rover” essay contest submissions, the U.S. space agency narrowed down the voting pool to just nine candidates.

“Thousands of [K-12] students have shared their ideas for a name that will do our rover and the team proud,” according to Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division in Washington. “Thousands more volunteered time to be part of the judging process.

“Now it is the public’s opportunity to become involved and express their excitement for their favorites in the final nine,” she added.

The options (listed by grade level) are:

K – 4

• Endurance: Oliver Jacobs of Virginia

• Tenacity: Eamon Reilly of Pennsylvania

• Promise: Amira Shanshiry of Massachusetts

5 – 8

• Perseverance: Alexander Mather of Virginia

• Vision: Hadley Green of Mississippi

• Clarity: Nora Benitez of California

9 – 12

• Ingenuity: Vaneeza Rupani of Alabama

• Fortitude: Anthony Yoon of Oklahoma

• Courage: Tori Gray of Louisiana

Polls will remain open online through Jan. 27 at midnight EST.

After which the nine student finalists will discuss their rover names with a panel—including Glaze, NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, JPL rover driver Nick Wiltsie, and Clara Ma (who named the Curiosity rover in 2009).

Just like on RuPaul’s Drag Race, NASA will consult results of the poll, but the final decision is the space agency’s to make.

One grand prize winner will be announced in early March and invited to watch the rover’s July launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Scheduled to land in Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, the robotic scientist will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the Martian climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

More on Geek.com:

• NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Earns Its Driver’s License
• Future Mars Habitats Could Be Made From Moldy Material
• NASA’s Rainbow Treasure Map Shows Water Ice on Mars

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