How NASA Scientists Use Earthly Maps to Navigate the Surface of Mars
NASA rovers have tagged thousands of Martian rocks, hills, and craters with names to help teams track daily discoveries. While official names are regulated by the International Astronomical Union, mission scientists use systematic, theme-based nicknames to organize their exploration, turning the Red Planet into a sprawling, mapped extension of Earth.
To manage the vast amount of data returned by rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance, NASA scientists divide Martian terrain into a grid of quadrants, each roughly 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) on a side. These quadrants are assigned specific themes—often based on geological sites on Earth where team members have worked or hold personal connections. Once a theme is selected, the team compiles hundreds of potential names to ensure they have enough identifiers to last for the months a rover might spend in a single area.
The naming process has evolved significantly since the late 1990s, when the Sojourner mission team used whimsical nicknames like 'Yogi Rock,' 'Casper,' and 'Scooby-Doo.' Modern missions favor more intentional naming conventions. For instance, the Perseverance team currently uses themes based on national parks, while the Curiosity team recently drew inspiration from the geography of Roraima, Brazil, to name features in a sulfate-enriched region that resembled the Pacaraima Mountains' tabletop peaks.
While these nicknames are essential for daily operations and scientific documentation, they remain distinct from official planetary nomenclature. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) maintains the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, which dictates strict rules for official names. Craters larger than 37 miles (60 kilometers) are named after famous scientists or science-fiction authors, while smaller craters are named after towns with populations under 100,000. For example, Jezero Crater, explored by Perseverance, is named after a Bosnian town, while the impact crater Belva within it honors a West Virginia town.
These names serve a vital practical purpose: they allow scientists to communicate clearly about specific boulders or drill targets during mission discussions. By memorializing these locations in scientific papers, the teams ensure that every pebble and outcrop studied on Mars remains part of a coherent, trackable record of human exploration.
Source: How Does NASA Name Things on Mars? (Mars Report - June 2023)
