--- title: "NASA Reverses Course After Giving Asteroid Nazi Name" description: "Asteroid Ultima Thule was renamed by NASA to \"Arrokoth\" thanks to the Nazi connotations of its old name, as Agence France-Press reports." date: "2019-11-13" modified: "2019-11-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-reverses-giving-asteroid-nazi-name" categories: - "Future Society" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "Kuiper Belt" - "NASA" - "the digest" - "ultima thule" --- # NASA Reverses Course After Giving Asteroid Nazi Name ![Asteroid Ultima Thule was renamed by NASA to "Arrokoth" thanks to the Nazi connotations of its old name, as Agence France-Press reports.]() *\Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\* ## Ultima Oops It's the furthest celestial object we've ever visited with a spacecraft — asteroid [Ultima Thule]() has been fascinating scientists ever since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft [visited]() it last winter. Now it's back in the news for an embarrassing reason: NASA [renamed]() the space rock on Tuesday after backlash about its old name's Nazi connotations, [*Agence France-Press* reports](). NASA's new name for the asteroid is "Arrokoth," meaning "sky" in the Native American Pohatan language. ## Alt-Right Connotations "Ultima Thule" originally referred to a mythical, far-away location in classical myths. But the name was later coopted by Nazi occultists who used it to refer to ancestral land of "Aryan" people, according to *AFP*. The name is still in use in alt-right circles and is even the name of a Swedish white-power rock group. "Historically that name was very positive and \[we\] realized afterwards that under certain contexts was negative," astrophysicist Simon Porter who was part of Arrokoth's discovery, told *AFP*. ## Arrokoth Conveniently, NASA didn't mention any of that drama in [today's statement]() regarding the space rock's new name. "The name ‘Arrokoth’ reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, in the statement. "We graciously accept this gift from the Powhatan people," Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division added. "Bestowing the name Arrokoth signifies the strength and endurance of the indigenous Algonquian people of the Chesapeake region." **READ MORE:** [NASA renames faraway ice world after Nazi-link backlash (Update)]() \[*AFP*\] **More on Ultima Thule:** *[New HD Photo of Ultima Thule Looks Like a Giant Beat Up BB-8]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()