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Mars, Mars One, Uwingu

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From Uwingu: A Special Mars Craters Naming Celebration for Father’s Day

Mars craters namingWant to make your mark on a map of Mars? Now’s your chance,  by naming Mars craters on Uwingu’s Mars map.  If you haven’t heard of Uwingu before, it’s a space advocacy group that donates part of its income to science research and education. I’ve written about this amazing group a number of times and have participated by naming craters on their Mars map. I also get their newsletter each day, which is a fun way to learn  new things about the universe. In return, the money I’ve given has gone to a good cause.

This year, Uwingu has a Father’s Day gift special. They invite you to sign up for their daily newsletter called Uwingu Daily Space Explorer. It costs $19.95 per year and each day you are greeted with a gorgeous space image and a peek at the science behind the image.  It’s a wonderful way to explore and learn.

Now, here’s the cool kicker: if you sign up between now and June 16th, you’ll get a free gift certificate on June 17th that will allow you to name one or more Mars craters on the Uwingu Mars map. You can name it for whoever you choose (Dad, maybe?).  After you do the naming, you get a certificate showing the location of the crater and the name that you can share.

About That Mars Map

The Mars map is a way to get craters  named so that future explorers will have a ready-made set of place names they can start using right away.  The map is already planned for inclusion on the Mars One Robotic Lander and the Time Capsule to Mars project. The idea is simple: there are hundreds of thousands of craters on Mars that are unnamed. If we’re going to send people to Mars, it’s best to have names of places for them to use as they begin their explorations. It facilitates communication between them and Earth; it helps that everyone involved has the same set of names to use. If you stop to think about it, giving place names isn’t going to be high on the list of things to accomplish by the first missi0ns, and it’s always better to have names in place already.

To solve that problem, Alan Stern and the folks at Uwingu came up with the idea of putting together a Mars map with names already in place. Normally there’s a charge to name a crater (beginning at $5.00 and goes up by crater size).  So far, people around the world have joined in to do the naming. The best part?  They’re supporting science education and research. More than 19,000 craters have been named, and the Uwingu Fund has given out more than 150,000 in grants. These help students, educators and scientists do their work. All that money came from folks naming craters, exoplanets, or subscribing to the Daily Explorer.

So, if you’re looking for an interesting gift for your dad (or in his memory), check out this offer over at Uwingu. Simply subscribe to Updates this week, and get a gift certificate to name a crater on the Mars map!

Mars, Uwingu, Uwingu Fund

Craters on Mars

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Name a Crater on Uwingu’s Mars Map

Imagine the first Mars explorers setting foot on its rusty, sandy surface, using the Mars maps with names supplied by people from back home on Earth! Courtesy NASA/JPL
Imagine the first Mars explorers setting foot on its rusty, sandy surface, using the Mars maps with names supplied by people from back home on Earth! Courtesy NASA/JPL

The first human missions to Mars are not far away. Depending on which mission you’ve read about, and what you think of the current plans by NASA, SpaceX, Mars One, and others, those first Marsnauts could be setting foot on the Red Planet in the next decade or so. When they do that, they’re landing on virgin territory, a place where no one has walked before. It’s exciting. It’s exhilirating. And, it’s going to require a LOT of planning in advance.

Of course, the mission specifics are important. No matter which group or country sends a mission first, they’re going to have to plan for infrastructure — places for people to live, work, dig out the natural resources they  need to survive. And, the first Mars explorers will need more mundane things, like maps with place names on them. They aren’t really going to have time to rush out and name every single rill and crater. Of course, there ARE names for the large regions, craters, and mountains on the planet. But, the smaller ones don’t really have names.

Mars Needs Names!

It would be good if they did, if for no other reason than to facilitate accurate and up-to-date communication about a team’s whereabouts to the mother base and back to Earth. That’s where the Uwingu Mars maps — and you — come in.  Uwingu is a group I’ve written about before; its members are raising funds through the sale of crater names on their Mars maps to help fund science research and education. They’ve been successful at this project for more than a year, and a lot of really cool people have bought the name of a crater on Mars for themselves or a friend or loved one. I have a crater on Mars, and I’m pleased that my contribution has gone to help fund a good cause.

Last year, thousands of people named craters on Mars to celebrate Mother’s and Father’s Day, and many others contributed money to name craters for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Father’s Day is coming up, and as they did for this past Mother’s Day, Uwingu is offering you a chance to name a crater for Dad, and commemorate it with a certificate you can download electronically or have framed. If you name one of the 50 largest craters on the map, you’ll get a special bonus gift certificate. It’s a great way to donate to worthy cause, and maybe even put a smile on Dad’s face!

You can get more information on the special offer and check out Uwingu’s maps on their Web site.