Twitter users asked for the Uranus probe to be named – and it went pretty much as you’d expect – National | Globalnews.ca

What could be titled “Low Hanging Fruit of the Year,” someone recently asked Twitter users to come up with a new name for a probe headed for Uranus, and well, what happens next won’t shock anyone – but it does it’s hilarious.

Before we get to the enthusiastic and viral reactions, let’s back up for a moment.

Discover IGO is a Twitter fan account dedicated to cheering our solar system’s giant ice planets, namely Neptune and Uranus. The account often posts images and memes about the two planets, and their pinned tweet is a plea to the space community to send missions to the icy masses in the name of exploration.

It should be noted that there are currently no planned probes to Uranus, but NASA scientists voted last year to make NASA’s blue planet its top priority over the next decade by developing a mission to Uranus, with spacecraft, which could contain an orbiter and a probe.

With which we tweet in question.

Last Saturday, ExploreIGO asked its community, “What would YOU call the #Uranus Orbiter & Probe Mission?”

We all know what’s next…

“How about the Planetary Orbital Observation Probe? AKA The POOP,” one respondent suggested. “Begin Uranus mission… Amazing spectacle in space,” offered another.

Overall, the original post received thousands of suggestions – some silly, but some are actually very thoughtful and based on science or mythology. You know names NASA might actually Consider.

Many recommended naming the Uranus probe Olympus, Odin or even MUSE for Mission Uranus Science Expedition. Some suggested the names of historical figures in the space community, such as Lassel, Kuiper, and Earhart.

While it may seem immature for the science community to poke fun at jokes that poke fun at the planets they explore, some scientists say that bringing their work to a wider audience is actually helpful.

“I think it’s good to be involved in some way with my work,” Ned Molter, a graduate student in astronomy at the University of California, told Futurism last year.

“Do the jokes really get tired and repeat themselves? Absolutely,” added Molter. “I wouldn’t say I’m frustrated at all. A conversation starts.”

Heidi Hammel, a prominent astronomer at the Space Science Institute and Planetary Society and a top expert on Neptune and Uranus, told the outlet that NASA is very sensitive to the word “probe” and its relationship to Uranus.

“I’m really concerned that actually getting a mission to explore this planet is going to be difficult because I think NASA would be sensitive to those headlines and all the ridicule they would get if they did one.” Mission wanted to get planets,” she said.

“We want to send atmospheric probes, and we call them probes, and it’s impossible to separate that from the whole thing about extraterrestrials studying humans… Maybe we’ll just go to Neptune so we don’t have to worry about the whole thing .”

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