Get Mom a Crater on Mars for Mother's Day

By Nancy Atkinson - May 6, 2014 at 6:50 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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There's a great book (and a not as great movie) called

"Mars Needs Moms"

. It's a heartwarming (dare I say tear-jerking) story that provides a Martian's-eye view of how important Moms are, and that they'll love us "to the ends of the universe."

With Mother's Day coming up -- and if you're looking for another great combination of Moms and Mars -- Uwingu is celebrating with a campaign called

Mothers on Mars (MoM)

, which provides the first-ever opportunity to honor Moms on Mother's Day by naming a feature for her on Uwingu's new Mars map.

Until Mother's Day, May 11, Uwingu is offering a gift pack which includes a special Mother's Day certificate.

Although the crater names likely won't officially be approved by the IAU, the names will be used on maps used by the

Mars One team

, the commercial company that is looking to create a human settlement on Mars by 2023.

Planetary scientist and Uwingu's CEO Dr. Alan Stern said the named craters will be similar to the names given to features on Mars by the mission science teams (such as Mt. Sharp on Mars –the IAU-approved name is Aeolis Mons) or even like Pike's Peak, a mountain in Colorado which was named by the public -- in a way -- as early settlers started calling it that, and it soon became the only name people recognized.

Uwingu's Mars Map Crater Naming Project allows anyone to help name the approximately 590,000 unnamed, scientifically cataloged craters on Mars, starting at $5 each.

Uwingu is hoping to raise $10 million for The Uwingu Fund, which provides grants to further space exploration, research and education.

With almost 10,000 craters named so far, true to their promise, Uwingu has already funded grants to projects and organizations including the Astronomers Without Borders, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Mars One mission, the Galileo Teacher Training Program, Explore Mars and the Allen Telescope Array at SETI.

"Our mission is to raise funds for space research while growing a successful company that gets people excited about space exploration and education", said Stern, the former director of planetary science at NASA.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com