posted 02-26-2014 08:50 AM               

Crowdsourced Mars Crater Naming Project Launched – 500,000 Craters to be Named on New Mars Map

The project aims to generate over $10M in grants to threatened space researchers and educators during budget cuts.

For years, space mission rover teams have taken it upon themselves to name landmarks on Mars.

Beginning today, the public can get involved in Mars exploration much the same way. Through Uwingu's newly redesigned website, now anyone can help to create the Uwingu's new Mars map, with names for all the approximately 500,000 unnamed, scientifically catalogued craters on Mars.

In almost 50 years of Mars exploration by spacecraft, only about 15,000 features have been named on Mars by scientists and others around the world. Yet over 500,000 Martian craters catalogued from NASA and European space mission imagery remain unnamed. Uwingu is setting a goal of naming all these unnamed Martian craters and completing its new Mars map before 2015 — the 50th anniversary year of humankind's first missions to Mars.

The completed project aims to generate over $10M in funds for space research and education — larger than any other private space grant program in history.

Uwingu's Mars map grandfathers in all the already named craters on Mars, but opens the remainder up for naming by people around the globe. Unnamed craters in the Mars database range from under a kilometer across to over 350 kilometers (over 200 miles) across. Craters can be named for almost anything or anyone, including friends, family, co-workers, heroes, pets, places on Earth or in space, sports teams, musical artists.

Says Uwingu's advisor and Mars scientist Dr. Teresa Segura, "This project is truly groundbreaking for public participation in the exploration of Mars. Only imagination limits your choices, Aad I love that it supports funding for space research and education!"

Prices for naming craters vary, depending on the size of the crater, and begin at $5 dollars.

Uwingu makes a shareable Web link and a naming certificate available to each crater namer for each newly named crater.

"Every crater named on this public Mars map contributes to the Uwingu fund for space research and education", added Uwingu founder and planetary scientist Dr. Alan Stern, "So name a crater on Mars — and make an impact of your own!"

posted 02-26-2014 03:11 PM               

Hasn't the IAU already named thousands of craters on Mars?

Yes, over a period of about 50 years, the IAU named about 15,000 features on Mars. All of the names of those features have been grandfathered onto Uwingu's base map. We hope to greatly accelerate the naming of features on Mars by involving the public!

How will our Uwingu Mars feature names be used?

They'll be used by anyone using Uwingu's Mars maps. For now that's just the public, but soon, we hope, scientists and space missions to Mars will be using these maps too.

posted 02-27-2014 08:49 AM               

Named in celebration of the thousands of space history enthusiasts and professionals who together comprise the collectSPACE.com community.

posted 02-27-2014 06:23 PM               

"Not a single Mars crater named as a result of the recently launched Uwingu campaign will be sanctioned by the IAU," Thierry Montmerle, IAU general secretary, said in a Feb. 27 email. "This should be emphasized very clearly."

Columbia Hills and Bradbury Landing are also unofficial names.

posted 03-03-2014 09:11 AM               

Private Mars One Human and Lander Missions to Use Uwingu Name Maps

Private Mars One Mars Lander Mission to Carry Uwingu Mars Crater Names Map to Mars

Today, Uwingu and the Mars One project announced a landmark partnership: All robotic and human Mars One missions will carry Uwingu's Mars Crater Map to Mars, and use these feature names as a part of Mars One mission operations. In exchange, a portion of Uwingu Fund revenues generated by Mars feature naming at Uwingu's website will help fund Mars One missions.

Uwingu launched its Mars Crater Naming Project last week, giving anyone in the public the opportunity to name any of the approximately 500,000 scientifically identified craters on Mars. Proceeds from this project will help create up to $10M in Uwingu grants to Mars One and other space projects, to individual space researchers, and to space educators.

Says Uwingu founder and CEO Dr. Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and the former head of NASA's science program, "This partnership catapults Uwingu's Mars crater naming database and Mars maps into the forefront of Mars exploration. Every person who names craters on Mars will now know that their crater names are to be used in the exploration and eventual settlement of Mars."

Bas Lansdorp, Mars One Co-Founder and CEO said: "We're very enthusiastic about the partnership with Uwingu. Like Mars One, Uwingu gives everyone around the world the opportunity to participate in space exploration. The name you choose will go down in history, travelling on board our 2018 mission lander and will be used by our future astronauts. What an amazing opportunity!"

posted 03-04-2014 01:02 AM               

I paid to name a crater and have all the documentation to say it's named. However, it hasn't been. Uwingu say that this was because of a glitch in their programme and they are correcting it. That was nearly a week ago and I'm still waiting.

posted 03-04-2014 09:47 AM               

When they do that, I'll be listening for one named for my daughter up on the eastern side of Gale Crater. Pretty cool.

posted 03-05-2014 09:04 AM               

Private Mars map blasts off: Crater names raising funds for ride to Red Planet

A private mapping project to name all of the craters on Mars has blasted off in a big way while also booking a trip to the Red Planet.

Just a week after launching its crowdsourced Mars Crater Map, the space funding company Uwingu has raised more than $80,000 registering the public's names for over 6,000 of the Martian landmarks.

"This is way ahead of our pre-launch projections and we're just ecstatic," Uwingu's CEO Alan Stern, a former NASA science chief who also heads the agency's New Horizons mission to Pluto, said. "Still, we have a long way to go to complete the 500,000+ unnamed craters."

posted 03-06-2014 11:17 AM               

quote:

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A French neologism meaning "Seekers of continuous love". Named after two amourants from Quebec, Isabelle Houle and François Guay.

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posted 03-11-2014 11:11 AM               

Concerns and Considerations with the Naming of Mars Craters

Recently initiatives that capitalize on the public's interest in space and astronomy have proliferated, some putting a price tag on naming space objects and their features, such as Mars craters. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) would like to emphasize that such initiatives go against the spirit of free and equal access to space, as well as against internationally recognized regulations. Hence no purchased names can ever be used on official maps and globes. The IAU encourages the public to become involved in the naming process of space objects and their features by following the officially recognized (and free) methods.

In order to make sure that all scientists, educators and general public "speak the same language", astronomers from the International Astronomical Union have agreed on common standards for naming space objects, features or phenomena so that they can be easily located, described, and discussed. For instance, features on a given planet or satellite, receive names chosen from a particular theme. Only those features that are deemed to be of significance to science are given a name by the community, thus leaving other features to be named by future generations.

Although the present rules are that the general public cannot request that a particular feature is named, they can do so following a public invitation from a space agency or from the discoverers. This was the case for NASA's Magellan Venus mapping mission launched in 1989, for which the public was invited to offer the names of famous women for various features. A more recent example was the naming of the two most recently discovered satellites of Pluto in 2013, which was the result of a public vote. The selected names were approved in cooperation with the IAU and free and equal participation was offered to the general public. For Mars craters today, only their "discoverers", the space agencies, may take the initiative to involve the public in the naming process, in cooperation with the IAU and following international regulations.

In 1919, when the IAU was founded, it was given the official mission to establish internationally recognized planet and satellite nomenclature. The objective at the time was to standardize the various confusing systems of nomenclature for the Moon that were then in use. Since that time, the IAU has succeeded in constructing a single, reliable, official catalog of surface feature names, thus enabling successful international public and scientific communication. The IAU played a key role in getting the USSR and the USA to agree on naming rules for lunar features even during the space race of the sixties.

Today, the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), representing the worldwide astronomical community, provides a unique system of official names for Solar System objects (planetary surface features, natural satellites, dwarf planets, and planetary rings) for the benefit of the international science community, educators, and the general public. To see the existing accepted nomenclature please visit the IAU home page at Naming Astronomical Objects.

The IAU encourages entities wishing to promote space science and exploration to follow these internationally accepted rules and explain them as part of their space education and exploration programs.

posted 03-11-2014 12:30 PM               

The Uwingu site is a harmless piece of fun and has a place in attracting a wide audience to the wonders of the cosmos. Isn't it exciting to be able to see your name or the name of a loved one chosen by you on a map of an out of world object? Who cares whether it's official or not? At least it will have captured the imagination of those who might not otherwise have shown any interest.

posted 03-18-2014 10:43 AM               

Uwingu Mars Crater Project Awards Grant to Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

Grant Developed from Uwingu's New Mars Map Crater Naming Project, Students Encourage Participation

Space funding company Uwingu announced today a grant to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space chapter at the University of Colorado (CUSEDS). Uwingu's grant to CUSEDS comes from funds raised from the public naming craters on Uwingu's new Mars map at uwingu.com.

Uwingu has previously made grants to a wide range of organizations including Astronomers Without Border (AWB), the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), the Galileo Teachers Training Program (GTTP), the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and the Mars One project.

Uwingu's Mars Map Crater Naming public engagement project was established to help create a $10M fund for Uwingu grants to support a wide range of new space projects with individual space researchers and educators hurt by budget cuts, as well as space companies and organizations like CUSEDS.

Uwingu's Mars map grandfathers in all the already named craters on Mars, opening the remainder up for naming by people around the globe. Prices for naming craters vary, depending on the size of the crater, and begin at $5 dollars. Uwingu makes a shareable Web link and a naming certificate available to each crater namer for each newly named crater. To date, people from over 78 countries around the world have named about 8,000 features on Uwingu's Mars map in the past three weeks. Earlier this month, the private Mars One humans to Mars project announced it will carry Uwngu's new Mars map to Mars in 2018.

Dr. Alan Stern, the CEO of Uwingu added, "We're very proud to award our first student grant from our latest project to SEDS students, an important university student organization dedicated to advancing space exploration, research, and education. Given the popularity we're seeing from people who want to help name craters on our new Mars map, we expect to generate many more grants as our Mars Map Crater Naming Project moves toward its goal of completing the naming of the over 500,000 unnamed, scientifically cataloged craters on Mars by the end of 2014, the 50th year of Mars exploration!"

Brandon Seifert, President of CUSEDS remarked, "To be able to work with Uwingu to promote space exploration is an opportunity that CUSEDS is thrilled about. We're thankful for Uwingu's generous grant and are excited to put it to use supporting local outreach initiatives, collegiate science experiments, and student/community events. Uwingu's mission to become an impactful source of funding for scientific research, STEM education, student groups, and space-tech startups is both important and inspiring. CUSEDS is more than happy to now be a part of this larger effort and we look forward to helping as much as we can."

posted 12-13-2014 11:02 AM               

Uwingu and eBay Auctioning Naming Rights to Biggest Unnamed Crater on Mars

eBay bidders auction to name largest unnamed crater on Uwingu's Mars map, proceeds to benefit the National Space Society, the Mars One project, and more

Looking for an out of this world holiday gift opportunity or an incredible marriage proposal or anniversary idea? eBay and Uwingu have partnered to give anyone the opportunity to naming rights for the biggest unnamed crater on Uwingu's Mars map — a first of its kind auction.

With over 14,000 craters named on it by the public in 2014 alone — more than ten times the number named by scientists in the past 50 years, Uwingu's Mars map is becoming a de facto standard as the most complete map of Martian craters.

The huge, ancient crater, located at 25.1 deg south latitude and 327.3 deg east longitude on Mars is 627 km (391 miles) in diameter — as big as the state of Florida; it is bigger than 60% of the countries on Earth.

As with all Uwingu efforts, 50% of the proceeds will go to Uwingu Fund sales to support space exploration, research, and education grants. For the eBay auction, the National Space Society will be supported via eBay's Giving Works program. The balance of the Uwingu Fund proceeds from the auction will benefit other grant recipients of the Uwingu Fund, including the Mars One project and other efforts to further space education, exploration, and research.

The name given to the crater by the eBay auction winner will forever be recorded on our new map of Mars, and then sent to Mars by the Mars One project The winning winner will also receive a framed certificate of naming, two (2) VIP passes to the Mars Insight mission launch — NASA's next Mars launch, and a handsome desk globe of Mars valued at over $300.

"Our goals at Uwingu are to get more people excited about space exploration, and to fund space exploration, research, and education projects via this new private sector way," said Uwingu's CEO, planetary scientist Alan Stern. "There are still almost 500,000 unnamed craters on our people's map of Mars."

In addition to bidding on the eBay auctioned crater, enthusiasts, gift givers, and supporters are encouraged to go online at uwingu.com and support Uwingu's goals by naming smaller and mid-sized craters as holiday gifts to loved ones, friends, and coworkers. Prices range from $5 to $5,000 depending on crater size.