Martian Pet Rocks Pathfinder Crew Having Fun Naming Their Finds

Yogi might be a bear to you, a flattop might still be a haircut, and Casper is still the friendly ghost. But now they’re also laid-back names for out-of-this-world hot properties: rocks from Mars.

Some corporations spend millions on product names that convey the right image, set the right tone and generate the right multimillion-dollar revenue.

Not so the Pathfinder team of scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. They only had to design and launch the historic, multimillion-dollar spacecraft that recently landed on Mars.

In doing so, they also earned the right to name the rocks they found.

So while names such as “Barnacle Bill,” “Flat Top,” “Yogi,” “Couch,” “Hippo,” “Stripe,” “Pumpkin,” “Chimp,” “Shark Wedge,” “Squid,” “Hedgehog,” “Casper” or “Half Dome” might not spark any commercial fires, so what? How many people get to name Mars rocks?

According to Eric Hayne, a laboratory public affairs officer, Barnacle Bill, the first rock the rover Sojourner reached for, earned its moniker from its resemblance to, yes, barnacles. “(The scientists) didn’t want to get into naming the rocks after people, places or events,” Hayne says. “They just wanted to have some fun.

“Although it’s very exciting work, it can get tedious analyzing the rocks, so naming them is a means of comedy and entertainment, but it is also a quick way to identify them if there are specific questions.”

The rocks remind the scientists of familiar forms. A veto process ensures the names have the right attitude. They must be humorous and straightforward. New names go up on the bulletin board daily.

Flat Top, Hayne says, looks like a table top - hence its name. A rock looks white like Casper, the friendly ghost.

And Couch? One night, a scientist went home and flopped down on his couch.

Bingo. Rock name.