BEIJING, July 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu App, the
flagship mobile platform of Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), today kicked
off the official naming selection process for China's first Mars rover, which was launched
into space yesterday from Wenchang, Hainan province, as part of the Tianwen-1 Mars
exploration mission. As the exclusive partner for the rover's
naming campaign, Baidu App will leverage its expansive user base to
allow netizens to contribute to the selection of the rover's name
and view interactive content about the mission.
Baidu has the largest information and knowledge-centered mobile
ecosystem in China, said Foyu
Yuan, Corporate Vice President of Baidu, which will allow Baidu to
attract netizens at home and abroad to participate in the naming of
China's first Mars rover. She
added that Baidu will use this campaign to tell stories about space
exploration from multiple angles.
Baidu App is hosting the naming selection process for the rover
on a designated Smart Mini Program. The campaign was launched today
at a press conference held in Wenchang with the Lunar Exploration
and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration
(CNSA), and was attended by the center's deputy director Tongjie
Liu. Including a lander, rover, and orbiter, Tianwen-1 is
China's first solo exploration
mission to Mars and represents a historic moment both for
China's space program and
humanity's understanding of Mars. Tianwen means "Questions to
Heaven" and comes from a poem by Yuan Qu, one of the greatest poets
of ancient China who lived from
around 340 to 278 BCE.
In the first stage of the naming campaign, users are invited to
submit their ideas before the deadline on August 12. Users can search "Mars rover" or "Mars
rover naming selection" on Baidu App to enter the submission page.
Industry experts and the public will then narrow down the top
ideas. With 500 million monthly active users (MAUs), Baidu App's
Smart Mini Programs are a core pillar of the company's mobile
strategy, as they connect users to a wide range of information and
services through native app-like experiences.
In a video to mark the start of the naming campaign, astronauts
Zhigang Zhai, Yang Liu, and Yaping
Wang paid tribute to China's first mission to Mars. In addition,
notable figures including Chinese martial artist Jackie Chan, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, and Baidu's Executive Vice President
Dou Shen all provided name ideas for
the Mars rover. Xiaodu, Baidu's conversational AI assistant, even
submitted an AI-generated idea, "Zhuque" (Vermillion Bird), a
Chinese mythical bird.
In addition to serving as the exclusive partner for the naming
process of the Mars rover, Baidu App will offer a range of
interactive content and activities about the Tianwen-1 mission to
promote scientific knowledge about space exploration. For example,
users can search "Mars rover" and view a 3D structure of the
vehicle. Baidu App will also host an "AI Mars office" and "Mars
post office" so users can virtually experience the environment on
Mars. These efforts aim to encourage more netizens to learn about
the historic Mars mission. According to Baidu search data, requests
for information about the Tianwen-1 mission increased 1,560% within
the hour of its successful launch.
The new partnership builds on existing cooperation between Baidu
App and CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center.
Recently, Baidu App worked with the Mars mission to host a
livestream program where scientists shared authoritative knowledge
about outer space. Leveraging its AI expertise, strengths as a
knowledge platform, and more than 230 million daily active users
(DAUs), Baidu App is proud to be an exclusive partner of
China's first Mars mission to
inform netizens about this historic moment in China's space exploration.
About Baidu
Baidu, Inc. is a leading search engine, knowledge and
information centered Internet platform and AI company. The
Company's mission is to make the complicated world simpler through
technology. Baidu's ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market
under the symbol "BIDU". Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A
ordinary share.
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SOURCE Baidu, Inc.