Two washing-machine-sized satellites recently went into orbit around the moon. In March, they’ll start to gather detailed data about the quirks of the moon’s gravity. The working names for the satellites have been GRAIL A and B, for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory. But they just got new names—courtesy of fourth graders from Bozeman, Montana.
NASA invited U.S. students to submit essays with suggested names. The Bozeman entry was picked out of more than 900 schools representing 11,000 students. The winners impressed the judges with their careful research about the goal of the mission. Because the moon’s gravity gives us our tides, the kids suggested GRAIL A and B’s new handles: Ebb and Flow.
子們是在對這兩顆衛星的使命進行了仔細研究之后給它們取得名字——這給評判人員留下了很深的印象。因為月球引力使地球上出現潮汐現象,因此孩子們建議給GRAIL A和GRAIL B分別命名為“潮落”(Ebb)和“潮起”(Flow)。