TORONTO – The idea that humans might one day set foot on Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, may seem like science fiction, but maybe that’s just because features on the far off world have just been given names paying homage to the sci-fi genre.
Last March, the New Horizons mission team put out a call to the public for suggestions of names for features on Pluto and Charon in its “Our Pluto” campaign.
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You couldn’t just come up with any name. For Pluto, the names were based on themes that included scientists and engineers, historic explorers, and the underworld.
For Charon the themes were fictional explorers and travellers, fictional origins and destinations, fictional vessels and exploration authors, artists and directors.
Features on Pluto include references to spacecraft, including the space shuttle Challenger, the Russian Soyuz, as well as Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft. Scientists and explorers, such as Jacques Cousteau are also represented.
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