Geodesium on Mars

A Crater in Noctis Labyrinthus

You’ve probably heard about the Uwingu.com project to name craters on their Mars Map. It’s a unique fundraiser to support science research and education through the sales of crater names on the Uwingu Mars Map.

Today, Uwingu and Mars One, the private effort to send people to Mars within the decade, announced that the Mars One missions will add the Uwingu Mars Map to its mission toolkit. This is an important step in mission planning and also provides huge public access to what will likely be an amazing exploration of Mars. The public response so far has been phenomenal, tapping what I suspect has been a deep well of interest in the Red Planet and space exploration. People are touched by the idea that they can suggest a place name on the Uwingu Mars Map.

TheSpacewriter’s crater on the Uwingu Mars map.

We here at Loch Ness Productions are long-time supporters of missions to Mars. We based one of our most popular fulldome shows, called Marsquest, on the exploration of the Red Planet. That show featured original music by Mark C. Petersen, who composes under the name Geodesium.  I wrote the show, and as a science writer for hire, I’ve written about Mars and its exploration many times over the years in articles, exhibits, and books. You can read more of my science writing at TheSpacewriter.com

Geodesium’s crater on the Uwingu Mars map.

So, Mars fans that we are, once we heard about Uwingu Mars Map project, we checked it out. I talked at great length with the project CEO (Alan Stern, an old graduate school colleague of mine), and he made it very clear that Uwingu is selling the opportunity to put a name on a map. He also was very clear that the money raised is intended to support underfunded science research and science education. We thought about it for a while, finding that this method of raising money is not terribly different from planetariums selling the chance to name stars on their domes as fundraisers. Or seats in their theaters. Or bricks in their walkways.

So, over the weekend, we named a pair of craters on the Uwingu Mars Map. It’s our (small) way of helping get much-needed funding to scientific and educational research threatened by budget cuts.

We’re pleased to show off our certificates here, for two craters in the famous Noctis Labyrinthus—the Martian Labyrinth of the Night. It’s an appropriate place: we’re both stargazers, our craters are close together, and they continue our long and abiding interest in all things Red Planet!

Why Name Things Ahead of Time?

Uwingu is providing a needed service to the Mars exploration community that people don’t really think too much about. Consider this: a complex mission to another planet is going to require place names for navigation and mission control. By populating a much-needed Mars atlas with names suggested by the public, the project serves mission interests and engages people around the world in the audacious task of exploring the Red Planet. That’s the kind of synergy that gets big projects done! I’ve written more about this synergy on TheSpacewriter’s Ramblings, so go there for a more in-depth analysis.