Rolling Stones Rock Mars Courtesy Of NASA
NASA have honored legendary rock band The Rolling Stones by naming a rock discovered on the planet of Mars by the InSight lander "the Rolling Stones Rock" .
The announcement was made by actor Robert Downey Jr. prior to the Rolling Stones show at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Ca, which is near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory facility that is mission control for the InSight voyage to Mars.
Downy quipped in the clip of the on stage announcement, "Cross-pollinating science and a legendary rock band is always a good thing." Watch the video here .
NASA's Planetary Science Division director Lori Glaze said. "The name Rolling Stones Rock is a perfect fit. Part of NASA's charter is to share our work with different audiences. When we found out the Stones would be in Pasadena, honoring them seemed like a fun way to reach fans all over the world."
The band shared their excitement by saying, "This is definitely a milestone in our long and eventful history. A huge thank you to everyone at NASA for making it happen."
The InSight lander touched down on Mars last November and Jet Propulsion Laboratory had this to say about the golf ball sized rock in a video description, "The team behind NASA's InSight lander has informally named a rock on Mars 'Rolling Stones Rock' after the band. A little larger than a golf ball, the rock appeared to have rolled about 3 feet (1 meter) on Nov. 26, 2018, propelled by InSight's retrorockets as the spacecraft touched down to study the Red Planet's deep interior.
"In images taken by InSight the next day, several divots in the orange-red soil can be seen trailing "Rolling Stones Rock." It's the farthest NASA has seen a rock roll while landing a spacecraft on another planet."
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