'Whale Rider' rocks the red planet

The success of the film Whale Rider has taken the Maori language to new heights - outer space.

Nasa scientists have named features of the Martian landscape using Maori names and words, influenced by the popular movie about a girl's struggle to lead an East Coast tribe.

A Nasa scientist, associate professor Brad Jolliff, speaking on National Radio, said two rocks found by the Mars robotic rover Opportunity had been named Paikea (the lead character in the film) and Wharenui (meaning meeting house in te reo).

He said the rocks were found near a cliff named after the late Wellington-born scientist Roger Burns, who died in 1993. Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he accurately predicted that jarosite, an iron sulphate usually formed when water flows through and alters iron-rich sediments and rocks, would be found on Mars.

The find boosted speculation that Mars once carried large amounts of water.

It is not the first time Maori has been used to mark features on the red planet - agency scientists have already used the names of the Rotorua geysers Pohutu and Kahu.