Indians have had ties to the land in North America from time immemorial, and now that connection is expanding into the cosmos.
The Perseverance rover has been on Mars for a month, collecting data and making discoveries every day.
Several of the finds have been cataloged in Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language, through a partnership with NASA.
The Perseverance team started with a 50-word list and will expand the list as needed. According to a tweet from the explorer himself, some terms have already been used, such as tsé lichíí (red rock), yéigo (zeal) and seítah (between the sand).
Before landing at the Jezero crater in Máaz (Mars, in Navajo), the Perseverance team divided the crater into 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) grids and named them “quads” in honor of our national parks, planet with a similar geology.
The rover landed in an area named after Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly National Monument, which is located in the Navajo Nation.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, along with Vice President Myron Lizer and other advisers, suggested words from what they saw at the landing site, Indian Country Today reported.
In a press release, NASA said the suggestions include tséwózí bee hazhmeezh (rolling rows of pebbles, like waves). Aaron Yazzie, Diné, also suggested bidziil (strength) and hol nili´ (respect) on the list. “Perseverance” (perseverance) was translated into Navajo Ha’ahóni.
Yazzie is a mechanical engineer on the Perseverance team and works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
He hopes seeing his native language in connection with the mission will make native youths proud and encourage them to achieve their goals.