Next Mars Rover Named "Curiosity"

No Colbert controversy here.

From more than 9,000 suggestions submitted by students, NASA today announced a new name for its Mars Science Laboratory rover, or MSL, which is targeted for launch in 2011.

The winning name: "Curiosity," proposed by Kansas sixth-grader Clara Ma.

In a recent contest to name the next pressurized module to be delivered to the International Space Station, comedian Stephen Colbert rallied fans to make "Colbert" the top vote-getter in a non-binding poll.

NASA dubbed the former Node 3 module "Tranquility," and named a treadmill for Colbert.

The MSL contest was open to U.S. students age 5 to 18, who had to write an essay - varying in length by grade level - supporting their recommendation. (Read Ma's essay below.)

The other finalists were: Adventure, Amelia, Journey, Perception, Pursuit, Sunrise, Vision and Wonder.

A NASA panel selected Curiosity, taking into consideration another non-binding public poll and suggestions from mission project managers.

For suggesting the winning name, Ma won a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. She'll be invited to sign her name on the rover as it is assembled, NASA said in a press release.

About the size of a small sport utility vehicle, Curiosity is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral in 2011 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, and take 10 months to reach Mars.

Expected to cost at least $2.2 billion, the mission will search for evidence of past or present microbial life on the red planet.

Here is Ma's essay, as presented by NASA:

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, 'Why is the sky blue?', 'Why do the stars twinkle?', 'Why am I me?', and I still do. I had so many questions, and America is the place where I want to find my answers. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Sure, there are many risks and dangers, but despite that, we still continue to wonder and dream and create and hope. We have discovered so much about the world, but still so little. We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much.

IMAGE NOTE: Click the images to enlarge them. Top, an artist concept of Mars Science Laboratory. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Bottom: Clara Ma, winner of the Mars Science Laboratory naming contest. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.