Guy Webster 818-354-6278 Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 News Release: 2008-215 November 18, 2008 NASA Invites Students to Name New Mars Rover The contest begins Tuesday, Nov. 18, and is open to students 5 to 18 years old who attend a Disney will provide prizes to students submitting winning essays, including a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in "Mars exploration has always captured the public imagination," said Mark Dahl, program executive for the Mars Science Laboratory at NASA Headquarters in Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in "All of us at Disney are delighted to be working with NASA in its educational and public outreach efforts to teach schoolchildren about space exploration, robot technology and the universe in which they live," said Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group. "WALL-E is one of the most lovable and entertaining characters that Pixar has ever created, and he is the perfect spokes-robot for this program." The Mars Science Laboratory rover will be larger and more capable than any craft previously sent to land there. It will check whether the environment in a carefully selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life. The rover will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for several chemical building blocks of life. "We are now in a phase when we're building and testing the rover before its journey to Mars," said John Klein, deputy project manager for the Mars Science Laboratory at JPL. "As the rover comes together and begins to take shape, the whole team can't wait to call it by name." Additional assignments include imaging its surroundings in high definition, analyzing rocks with a high-powered laser beam, inspecting rocks and soil with a six-foot robotic arm, and cooking and sniffing rock powder delivered from a hammering drill to investigate what minerals are in Martian rocks. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Information about the contest is available at http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov . More information on Mars Science Laboratory is at http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .
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