Many cities and towns around the world have a link to another city or town far away, for friendship and cultural exchanges. The village of Glenelg, on the western coast of Scotland, has announced it will “twin” with another place with the same name. Glenelg, Mars, is the designated name of the spot that the Mars Curiosity rover is headed toward.
The valley of Glenelg has been so-called for two reasons.
Firstly, the robot will visit the location twice on its journey to and from a Martian mountain, Mount Sharp, and this coming and going inspired the rover team to use a palindrome, a word which reads the same forwards and backwards.
Secondly, all features around the crater being examined have been given names associated with a place called Yellowknife in northern Canada, where Glenelg is the name of a geological feature.
Officials in Glenelg, the Scottish one, announced that an official “twinning” ceremony will take place on October 20th. Although there will be no Martian natives at the ceremony, American astronaut Bonnie Dunbar will attend. Link -via Arbroath