“This fateful landing on Mars has created a special opportunity to inspire Navajo youth not just through amazing scientific and engineering feats, but also through the inclusion of our language in such a meaningful way,” Aaron Yazzie, a Navajo engineer at NASA, said in a release.
With his help, NASA partnered with the Navajo Nation, first teaching their own engineers and later the Perseverance rover itself, translating Navajo words into English letters, although without special characters or punctuation.
“The partnership that the Nez-Lizer Administration has built with NASA will help to revitalize our Navajo language,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez in the release. “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 pla
NASA works with Navajo Nation to name new features discovered on Mars msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Navajo Nation shares language with NASA to help name items on Mars after Perseverance rover landing
AP
This photo provided by NASA shows the first color image sent by the Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
and last updated 2021-03-12 22:16:32-05
MARS, OUTER SPACE â NASA has teamed up with the Navajo Nation to bring the Navajo language to the red planet.
In a partnership with the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, NASA has begun to name features of scientific interest with words in the Navajo language. The first scientific focus of NASAâs Perseverance rover is a rock named Máaz â the Navajo word for Mars, NASA said in a press release.