(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) SWATI MOHAN: Touchdown confirmed. Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin taking the signs of past life. CHANG: And since then, it's literally been exploring uncharted territory, which leaves NASA with the issue of naming the places where Perseverance goes. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Now, NASA is not entirely flying blind here. It had already split the map into sectors of about one square mile, each named after national parks around the world. Perseverance landed in the area named after Canyon de Chelly National Monument, which is 50 miles from where NASA mechanical engineer Aaron Yazzie grew up in Arizona.