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Article: Earth to Mars . . . Earth to Mars . . .
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 26, 1997
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Bruce Dunn {Free for All, July 19} is absolutely correct that the
term "Martian geology" is a misnomer because "geo" means earth. He
suggests "Marsology" as the correct term.
But he does not go far enough. The term "landing on Mars" also
may be a misnomer. If "landing" means making contact with the earth
after a flight, perhaps the correct term for making contact with the
surface of Mars is "marsing."
There is good precedent for this. The Russians realized at an
early stage of space exploration that the Russian word
"prizemleniye" (from the word "zemlya," land, earth) did not make
sense when discussing a "landing" on the moon. So they formed a new
word "priluneniye" (from the word ...