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NASA honours Algerian parks with Martian namesakes
By Abdelhafid Daamache with Lauren Lambert in Lowel, Massachusetts
Algiers (AFP) Dec 12, 2024
NASA’s mapping of Mars now bears the names of three iconic Algerian nationwide parks, Algerian physicist Noureddine Melikechi, a member of the US house company’s largest Mars probe mission, has advised AFP.
The Tassili n’Ajjer, Ghoufi and Djurdjura nationwide parks have discovered their Martian namesakes after a proposition by Melikechi, which he sought as each a tribute to his native Algeria and a name to guard Earth.
“Our planet is fragile, and it is a sign to the world that we actually have to deal with our nationwide parks, whether or not they’re in Algeria or elsewhere,” the US-based scientist advised AFP in a latest interview.
He stated the visible resemblance between a few of the Martian landscapes and those after which they had been labelled was additionally a key purpose for the naming.
“The primary one which got here to my thoughts was the Tassili n’Ajjer,” he stated of the UNESCO-listed huge plateau within the Sahara Desert with prehistoric artwork courting again no less than 12,000 years.
“Each time I see footage of Mars, they remind me of Tassili n’Ajjer, and now each time I see Tassili n’Ajjer, it jogs my memory of Mars,” added Melikechi, who left Algeria in 1990 for america, the place he now teaches on the College of Massachusetts Lowell.
The traditional artwork present in Tassili n’Ajjer depicts figures that may appear otherworldly, he stated.
Among the work present single-eyed and horned giants, amongst others which French archaeologist Henri Lhote dubbed as “nice Martian” deities in his 1958 ebook, “The Seek for the Tassili Frescoes”.
“These work are a signature… a ebook of how individuals used to stay,” stated Melikechi.
“You see animals, but additionally figures that seem like they got here from someplace else.”
– ‘Historic’ –
Melikechi’s second decide was the Ghoufi canyon in japanese Algeria, whose rocky desert panorama was the positioning of an historical settlement off the Aures Mountains.
Now a UNESCO-listed web site and a vacationer attraction, it has cliffside dwellings carved within the mountain, a testomony to human resilience in a spot the place survival will be hostile.
“Ghoufi offers you a way that life will be onerous, however you possibly can handle to maintain at it as you go,” Melikechi stated.
“You’ll be able to see that by way of these houses.”
The third web site, Djurdjura, is a snowy mountain vary some 140 kilometres (about 90 miles) east of the capital Algiers.
Comapred to Tassili or Ghoufi, it bears the least resemblance to Mars.
Melikechi stated its decide stemmed of Djurdjura’s “reminder of the richness of pure habitats”.
He stated the naming course of got here after Perseverence, NASA’s Mars rover exploring the Crimson Planet, made it into uncharted territory.
That space was then break up into small quadrants, every needing a reputation.
“We had been requested to suggest names for particular quadrants,” he stated.
“I advised these three nationwide parks, whereas others proposed names from parks worldwide. A staff then reviewed and chosen the ultimate names.”
The announcement, made by NASA earlier this month, sparked celebrations amongst Algerians.
Algerian Tradition Minister Zouhir Ballalou hailed it as a “historic and world recognition” of the North African nation’s landscapes.
Melikechi stated he hopes that it’ll entice extra guests as Algeria has been striving to advertise tourism, particularly within the Sahara area, with authorities promising to facilitate vacationer visas.
Official figures stated some 2.5 million vacationers visited the nation final yr — its highest variety of guests in 20 years.
“These locations are a treasure that we as people have inherited,” Melikechi stated.
“We want to ensure they’re preserved.”
Associated Hyperlinks
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