Areology
Noun
- The study of the planet Mars.
Example Sentences
“The current areology missions are named Odyssey, Curiosity, Reconnaissance, Perseverance, and MAVEN.”
“While all Mars missions to date have been executed remotely by unmanned spacecraft and robots, perhaps one day people will conduct areologies directly on the surface of the red planet.”
“My niece dreams of a future in areology when she looks at the night sky with her telescope.”
Word Origin
Greek, late 19th century
Why this word?
In September 2021, the NASA rover Perseverance collected its first rock samples on the surface of Mars, executing the latest example of areology, or the study of the planet Mars. The word “areology” dates to the late 19th century, from the words “Ares,” the Greek god of war and counterpart to the Roman god Mars, and “-logy,” the suffix for “study of.”