Here's How A South Carolina Library Was Part Of NASA's Mars Rover Landing

Last week, NASA's latest rover Perseverance successfully landed on Mars after a six-month journey to explore the red planet. While the landing happened millions of miles away, a small piece of South Carolina went with it.

It's only fitting that the name of a library, an institution of learning and knowledge, would be included on a rover meant to explore the vast unknowns of an uncharted planet. That is exactly the case for Whitmire War Memorial Library, whose name is inscribed on a tiny microchip on the Perseverance rover.

According to News 19, branch manager Christina Watts heard about the opportunity from Citizen Science and NASA outreach that people around the world could submit names to be inscribed on three silicon microchips. As the rover touched down on the red planet, members of the Whitmire community gathered to watch and hoped for the best.

"We were excited and nervous just like they were, you know, just please don't break up on the way down please," Watts told the news outlet.

The library will be represented on the rover throughout its mission, which will last at least one year. While on its mission, Perseverance will search for signs of life in a large crater that scientists believe once held water. The rover will collect various rock and soil samples, as well as test oxygen production of the atmosphere.

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