Development of a Local Toponym System at the Mars Desert Research Station

Place-naming processes for the features on other planetary bodies are controlled by the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Working Group on Planetary Nomenclature. This article examines the development of the nomenclature of the surroundings of the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), located in Utah, USA, a simulation facility for future Mars stations. The development of this nomenclature system is also representative of the system of local place names in terrestrial remote research and military stations and may foreshow how names will be "born" in a future permanent Mars or Lunar Base.