Perseverance Mission Team Uses Navajo for Jezero Crater Features

Summary: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mars 2020 Perseverance Team uses Navajo for Jezero Crater features of scientific interest.

close-up view of Máaz (Navajo for Mars), taken March 2, 2021, by SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI), from a distance of 10.4 feet (3.17 meters) and with an image field of view of 2.3 inches (6.0 centimeters); NASA ID: PIA24493; Date created: March 10, 2021; Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal

Prior to the mission launch date of Thursday, July 30, 2020, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Team gridded the rover's landing site, Jezero Crater, into quadrangles, or "quads," sized at roughly one square mile (2.6 square kilometers). The quads are named after geologically similar national parks and preserves on Earth. Each quad's national park serves as inspiration for names given to the quad's scientifically interesting features.

Perseverance's Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, touchdown site, the Octavia E. Butler Landing, named after American science fiction author Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947-Feb. 24, 2006), lies in the quad honoring northeastern Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Canyon de Chelly, established as a national monument April 1, 1931, under the management of the National Park Service (NPS), is owned entirely by the Navajo Nation. The national monument lies within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation as well as in the American Southwest's Four Corners region of the southwestern corners of Colorado and Utah, Arizona's northeastern corner and New Mexico's northwestern corner.

The Navajo Nation knows Canyon de Chelly as Tséyi’ (pronounce: say-YEE). The Canyon de Chelly National Monument's Aug. 9, 2018, Facebook post translates Tséyi' as "the place within the rocks." The Navajo call themselves Diné (pronounce: din-EH), which translates as "the people."

Navajo mechanical engineer and Perseverance team member Aaron Yazzie has coordinated a partnership of mission scientists with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Vice President Myron Lizer and their advisors to compile a list of Navajo words for Perseverance's scientific targets. Yazzie notes in his Twitter profile (Aaron Yazzie@YazzieSays) that he built the mission's drill bits.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Team presently has a list of 50 Navajo names. Perseverance itself translates as Ha’ahóni.

The rover's first scientific target, a rock, has been named Máaz, Navajo for the planet Mars. Máaz was imaged March 2, 2021, by the rover's SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI), from a distance of 10.4 feet (3.17 meters). SuperCam data analyzes Máaz's composition as basaltic. Máaz may be ". . . either an igneous rock or consists of fine grains of igneous material that were cemented together in a watery environment," according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Photojournal entry, "PIA24493: SuperCam Close-Up of Maaz," added March 10, 2021.

SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) imaged a second rock target March 7, 2021, from a distance of 10.9 feet (3.325 meters). This target has been named Yeehgo, an alternative spelling of Yéigo, Navajo for "diligent."

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez expressed the significance of the involvement of the Navajo language in NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission. “The partnership that the Nez-Lizer Administration has built with NASA will help to revitalize our Navajo language,” President Nez explained. “We hope that having our language used in the Perseverance mission will inspire more of our young Navajo people to understand the importance and the significance of learning our language. Our words were used to help win World War II, and now we are helping to navigate and learn more about the planet Mars.”

President Nez's mention of World War II references the Navajo code talkers who used their complex native language as an effective military code during World War II and, on a smaller scale, during the Korean War (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953) and early in the Viet Nam War (Nov. 1, 1955-April 30, 1975). The code was used on a smaller scale during the Korean War and the Viet Nam, according to Sergeant Major Lisa Cowboy, 20th CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) Command career counselor, in her Nov. 9, 2017, presentation at the National Native American Indian Heritage Month Observance at the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) South (Edgewood) recreation center in northeastern Maryland. Sergeant Major Cowboy noted that the Navajo code remains unbroken.

The takeaways for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Mission team's use of Navajo for Jezero Crater features are that the rover touched down in a mission-gridded quadrangle named Tséyi’ (pronounce: say-YEE), Navajo for northeastern Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument; that Perseverance mission scientists have established a partnership, coordinated by Navajo mechanical engineer and Perseverance team member Aaron Yazzie, with the Navajo Nation's president, vice-president and advisers to compile a list of names, currently numbering 50, for scientifically interesting features encountered by the Perseverance rover during exploration; and that a basaltic rock, the first feature observed by the rover, has the name of Máaz, Navajo for Mars.

close-up view of rock target Yeehgo (alternative spelling of Yéigo, Navajo for "diligent"), taken March 7, 2021, by SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) from a distance of 10.9 feet (3.325 meters), combines two images, each with a field of view of 2.5 inches (6.2 centimeters) in diameter, into a mosaic; NASA ID PIA24492; Date created March 10, 2021; Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ASU/MSSS, via NASA Image and Video Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

close-up view of Máaz (Navajo for Mars), taken March 2, 2021, by SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI), from a distance of 10.4 feet (3.17 meters) and with an image field of view of 2.3 inches (6.0 centimeters); NASA ID: PIA24493; Date created: March 10, 2021; Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24493; Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations, and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA24493

close-up view of rock target Yeehgo (alternative spelling of Yéigo, Navajo for "diligent"), taken March 7, 2021, by SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) from a distance of 10.9 feet (3.325 meters), combines two images, each with a field of view of 2.5 inches (6.2 centimeters) in diameter, into a mosaic; NASA ID: PIA24492; Date created: March 10, 2021; Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ASU/MSSS: May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24492; Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations, and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA24492

For further information:

Bressan, David. "NASA’s Perseverance Rover Team Names Geological Features On Mars With Words From The Navajo Language." Forbes. March 12, 2021.
Available @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2021/03/12/nasas-perseverance-mars-rover-mission-honors-navajo-language/?sh=346cab036614

Canyon de Chelly National Monument @canyondechellyNPS. "To the Diné, or Navajo People, Canyon de Chelly is referred to as Tséyi'. The Navajo word is translated as 'the place within the rocks.' Tséyi' was first mispronounced by the early Spanish military and settlers as they were not able to properly pronounce certain sounds in the Navajo language. The Spanish were also the first people to try and phonetically write down the word Tséyi' on their maps and in their journals. But with their pronunciation and written language, there was no correct way to write out the word Tséyi'. After many different versions over the years, the word "Chelly" was utilized the most by the time early Americans began to make their way into the southwest in the early 19th century. The Americans tried to read the written Spanish words and eventually mispronounced the Spanish version of Tséyi', or Chelly, as 'Shay.' So today it is pronounced 'de Shay.' NPS Photo/ J. Yazzie." Facebook. Aug. 9, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/canyondechellyNPS/posts/10155721239998443/

Good, Andrew; Alana Johnson; and Grey Hautaluoma; Tony Greicius, ed. "NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Mission Honors Navajo Language." NASA > Feature > Perseverance Mars Rover. March 11, 2021. Last updated March 15, 2021.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-perseverance-mars-rover-mission-honors-navajo-language

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "PIA24492: SuperCam Close-Up of Yeehgo Target." Photojournal. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ASU/MSSS. Image Addition Date: 2021-03-10.
Available @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24492

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "PIA24493: SuperCam Close-Up of Maaz." PhotoJournal. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/University of Copenhagen. Image Addition Date: 2020-03-10.
Available @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24493

Marriner, Derdriu. "Perseverance Parachute Codes Dare Mighty Things and Give JPL Coordinates." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 31, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/perseverance-parachute-codes-dare.html

Ponder, Rachel. "Observance celebrates the legacy of the Navajo Code Talkers." APG News > Community News. Nov. 16, 2017.
Available @ https://apgnews.com/community-news/observance-celebrates-legacy-navajo-code-talkers/

Smith, Yvette. "Jezero Crater Was a Lake in Mars' Ancient Past." NASA > Image-Feature > Perseverance Mars Rover. Oct. 26, 2020.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jezero-crater-was-a-lake-in-mars-ancient-past

Wall, Mike. "The Perseverance Rover Has Recorded the 1st Laser Sound on Mars. It's a 'snap!' not a 'pew!'" Space.com > News > Science & Astronomy. March 10, 2021.
Available @ https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-mars-laser-sound-recording