NASA Mars rover named by 13-year-old who won competition

'Ingenuity,' 'Vision' and 'Fortitude' were also finalists in the naming contest

NASA engineers and technicians examine the descent stage of the Mars 2020 spacecraft (Getty Images)

NASA’s new Mars rover has a new name thanks to a 7th-grade student: Perseverance.

Alexander Mather, a 7th grader at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, entered the name “Perseverance” in a NASA contest. His entry was selected as the winner.

“We as humans evolved as creatures who could learn to adapt to any situation, no matter how harsh,” Alexander wrote in his entry essay. “We will meet many setbacks on the way to Mars. However, we can persevere.”

According to Business Insider, Alexander will be invited to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to watch the rover’s launch.

The contest was open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The organisation launched the contest in August 2019 and received more than 28,000 essays. Those essays were winnowed down to nine finalists, and a public poll was conducted, which NASA officials considered during when deciding on the winner. The other finalists were “Endurance,” “Tenacity,” “Promise,” “Vision,” “Clarity,” “Ingenuity,” “Fortitude” and “Courage.”

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen announced the selection on Thursday.

“Alex’s entry captured the spirit of exploration. Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it’s going to make amazing discoveries,” Mr Zurbuchen said. “It’s already surmounted many obstacles to get us to the point where we are today -- processing for launch.”

NASA’s naming contest is also how the rover Curiosity got its name.

Engineers began building the Perseverance rover two years ago at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Perseverance’s mission on Mars will be to search for signs of past life on Mars and to expand our understanding of the planet’s history. It’s exploration will begin in a region of Mars called the “Jezero Crater,” which scientists believe may have been a river delta at some point. Scientists are hoping if there is evidence of ancient alien life, they may find some of it in this region.

The mission is intended to be the first of a two-part mission to eventually return Martian samples to Earth.

Perseverance is scheduled to launch on 18 February, 2021.