NASA names Mars rock 'Rolling Stones Rock' after iconic British rock band

On Nov. 26, 2018, a lonely alien rock, about the size of a golf ball, laid undisturbed on the Martian surface. Little did it know later that day, a foreign object from another planet would soon plunge into the atmosphere, descending down upon the surface, all the while launching the rock a few feet away from its original location.

The foreign object, known to everyone back on Earth as NASA's InSight mission, which sent a Martian lander last November to study the planet's deep interior, had accidentally sent a Martian rock rolling around the surface during its landing.

"The science team noticed right away that a rock had been tossed by (the lander's) thrusters," NASA spokeswoman Alana Johnson told FLORIDA TODAY. "It just kind of became a joke, 'We found our own rolling stone."' 

Now, teams have dubbed the rock, "Rolling Stones Rock" after the iconic British rock band, officially making rock 'n' roll music interplanetary. 

"NASA has given us something we've always dreamed of, our own rock on Mars" Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger said Thursday night at Pasadena's Rose Bowl Stadium in California. 

Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. made the announcement at the stadium — near NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which leads the InSight mission — before the rock band took the stage as part of their "Stones No Filter" tour.

"I have been entrusted with gathering support for a very cool and cosmic cause," Downey said to the crowd.

Teams at JPL even released a video about the lander tossing the Martian rock set to Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)" song.

Though official scientific names for places and objects in our solar system can only be designated by the International Astronomical Union, that doesn't mean scientists can't give their own nicknames to those alien objects. 

"Doing so makes it easier for (scientists) to discuss different objects and refer to them in science papers," according to NASA's press release. "So while the name Rolling Stones Rock is informal, it will appear on working maps of the red planet." 

According to NASA, this marks the farthest a rock has rolled while landing a spacecraft on another planet.

NASA's InSight mission will be the first to study the interior of Mars, deepening scientists' understanding of our red celestial neighbor, as well as studying how rocky planets first formed in our solar systems billions of years ago. 

"(NASA) is always looking to share our science," Johnson said. "There are so many different audiences out there ... and so talking about the InSight lander and the science that's taking place on that, we want to reach out to new and different audiences and get them excited about something maybe they never considered before." 

Contact Jaramillo at 321-242-3668 or antoniaj@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AntoniaJ_11.