PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- NASA is offering U.S. students the opportunity to name the space agency's new Mars Science Laboratory.
The essay contest, conducted in conjunction with Walt Disney Studios, is open to students 5 to 18 years old who attend a U.S. school and are enrolled in the current academic year. Students have until Jan. 25, 2009, to submit essays explaining why their suggested name for the rover should be chosen. The winner will be announced next April.
Disney will provide prizes to students submitting winning essays, including a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover is being built. The grand prize winner will have an opportunity to place a signature on the spacecraft.
"Mars exploration has always captured the public imagination," Mark Dahl, program executive for the Mars Science Laboratory, said Tuesday in a news release. "This contest will expand our ability to inspire students' interest in science and give the public a chance to participate in NASA's next expedition to Mars."
