Joseph Rebello/NASA

Alexander Mather

NASA is building the next Mars rover. The space agency wanted it to have a powerful and meaningful name. So NASA asked students across the country to help! 

The latest “Name the Rover” essay contest lasted 8 months, from August 2019 to March 2020. Judges read through 28,000 entries and narrowed them down for a public vote. Seventh-grader Alexander Mather from Burke, Virginia, won. He suggested the name Perseverance, which means to keep trying in spite of difficulties. “The human race will always persevere into the future,” Alexander wrote.

Perseverance is scheduled to land on Mars next year.