It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but NASA likes it, it likes it.
America’s space agency has named a Martian rock after the world’s most famous rockers.
It’s called Rolling Stones Rock, a name undoubtedly inspired by both the band’s music and the fact that this stone moved about three feet across the surface of Mars on Nov. 26, propelled by the spacecraft InSight’s thrusters as it landed for a mission.
After learning about their namesake rock on the Red Planet, the Stones said they were tickled pink.
“What a wonderful way to celebrate the ‘Stones No Filter’ tour arriving in Pasadena,” the band said in a statement. “This is definitely a milestone in our long and eventful history. A huge thank you to everyone at NASA for making it happen.””This is definitely a milestone in our long and eventful history,” the band saidd. “A huge thank you to everyone at NASA for making it happen.”
After the news was announced Thursday evening by actor Robert Downey Jr. at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, just before the Stones took the stage, its band leader could barely contain his joy.
“NASA has given us something we’ve always dreamed of, our own rock on Mars,” singer Mick Jagger told the crowd. “I can’t believe it. I want to put it, bring it back and put it on our mantelpiece.”
The new name is not a formal one and has not been credentialed by the International Astronomical Union, the group that designates “official” nicknames for cosmic objects and their features. However, the name will pop up on Mars maps used by scientists.
This christening is just the latest in a decades-long tradition at both NASA and the International Astronomical Union of coming up with nicknames of rockets, buildings, outer-space stones and outcrops to make discussion of scientific results easier. The union even runs contests for countries around the world to name exoplanets, or planets that orbit stars outside of the solar system.
“I’ve seen a lot of Mars rocks over my career,” said InSight team member Matt Golombek, who has worked on every NASA Mars surface mission since 1997. “This one probably won’t be in a lot of scientific papers, but it’s definitely one of the coolest.”
Here’s a list of some of the more interesting names they’ve come up:
Hercules: an exoplanet named by Slovenia
Musica: a star named by Japan
Cervantes: a star named by Spain
Saffar: a planet named by Morocco
But this inspired name game does work in just one direction. Ranker has compiled a list of bands that named themselves after things in outer space. Here are some of the more well-known:
Earth, Wind & Fire: Disco, Rock music, Black metal
Jefferson Starship: Pop music, Rock music, Acid rock
Bill Haley & His Comets Rock music, Rockabilly, Heavy metal
The Mars Volta: Krautrock, Noise rock, Space rock
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band: Blues-rock, Rock music, Progressive rock
EarthDoom: Metal, Heavy metal, Experimental music
Iced Earth: Thrash metal, Progressive metal, Power metal
Dead Moon: Garage punk, Garage rock, Grunge
Big Star: Rock music, Power pop, Alternative rock
Midnight Star: Hip-hop, disco, pop music
Dark Star Orchestra: Rock, jam band, progressive rock
Pluto: Rock, alternative rock, rock ‘n’ roll
Spacemen 3: Rock, space rock, drone music
And here’s Spacemen 3 doing “Revolution”: