{"id":17586,"date":"2021-03-05T18:36:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T10:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-names-perseverance-rover-landing-site-on-mars-after-seattle-sci-fi-pioneer-octavia-e-butler\/"},"modified":"2021-03-05T18:36:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T10:36:50","slug":"nasa-names-perseverance-rover-landing-site-on-mars-after-seattle-sci-fi-pioneer-octavia-e-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-names-perseverance-rover-landing-site-on-mars-after-seattle-sci-fi-pioneer-octavia-e-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA names Perseverance rover landing site on Mars after Seattle sci-fi pioneer Octavia E. Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Perseverance
An image sent back to Earth by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover shows the tread tracks left behind by its first drive on Mars on March 4. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fifteen years after her death, Seattle science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler has joined an exclusive pantheon of space luminaries memorialized on Mars.<\/p>\n

Today NASA announced that the Red Planet locale where its Perseverance rover touched down last month is called Octavia E. Butler Landing, in honor of a Black author who emphasized diversity in tales of alternate realities and far-out futures.<\/p>\n

\u201cButler\u2019s protagonists embody determination and inventiveness, making her a perfect fit for the Perseverance rover mission and its theme of overcoming challenges,\u201d Kathryn Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Perseverance, said in a news release. \u201cButler inspired and influenced the planetary science community and many beyond, including those typically under-represented in STEM fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler died unexpectedly in 2006 at the age of 58, after sustaining a head injury in a fall on a walkway outside her home in Lake Forest Park, Wash. She had moved to the Seattle area in 1999 from her native Southern California.<\/p>\n

In his own tribute to Butler, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for space science, emphasized the connection to Southern California, the home of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Perseverance mission operations.<\/p>\n

\"Octavia
Science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler spent the last years of her life in the Seattle area. (Writers House Literary Agency \/ Courtesy Ching-Ming Cheung)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI can think of no better person to mark this historic landing site than Octavia E. Butler, who not only grew up next door to JPL in Pasadena, but she also inspired millions with her visions of a science-based future,\u201d Zurbuchen said. \u201cHer guiding principle, \u2018When using science, do so accurately,\u2019 is what the science team at NASA is all about. Her work continues to inspire today\u2019s scientists and engineers across the globe \u2013 all in the name of a bolder, more equitable future for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler\u2019s estate acknowledged the honor in a tweet that read: \u201cTaking root amongst the stars.\u201d That\u2019s a reference to one of the late author\u2019s best-known lines, proclaiming that our destiny is to \u201ctake root among the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official names of geographical features on other planets must be approved by the International Astronomical Union, but NASA has a tradition of giving its own names to off-world landing sites \u2013 for example, Tranquility Base, the place on the moon where Apollo 11 touched down in 1969.<\/p>\n

The 1997 landing site for NASA\u2019s Pathfinder mission to Mars is known as Carl Sagan Memorial Station, in honor of the late astronomer and author of \u201cContact.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2004, NASA designated the landing sites for the Opportunity and Spirit Mars rovers as Challenger Memorial Station and Columbia Memorial Station, respectively. Those names honor space shuttle crews who lost their lives in 1986 and 2003.<\/p>\n

The place where NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover touched down in 2012 is called Bradbury Landing, as a tribute to Ray Bradbury, the author of \u201cThe Martian Chronicles\u201d and many other works of science fiction.<\/p>\n

Perseverance has already begun to venture out from Butler Landing: In addition to announcing the landing site\u2019s name, members of the mission team shared imagery from the 1-ton, six-wheeled rover\u2019s first drive since its Feb. 18 touchdown.<\/p>\n