Names
The mission is named after the fictional Spanish knight from Miguel de Cervantes renowned novel, Don Quixote, who charged against a windmill, thinking it to be a giant. Like the Don, the Hidalgo spacecraft will 'attack' an object much larger than itself, hopefully with more impressive results. 'Sancho' is named after Sancho Panza, the Don's squire, who preferred to stay back and watch from a safe distance, which is the role assigned to that probe. Finally, an Hidalgo was a minor Spanish title(roughly equivalent to a Baronet now obsolete; in the novel, it was the title Alonso Quijano had even before becoming Don Quijote.
Read more about this topic: Don Quijote (spacecraft)
Famous quotes containing the word names:
“Publicity in women is detestable. Anonymity runs in their blood. The desire to be veiled still possesses them. They are not even now as concerned about the health of their fame as men are, and, speaking generally, will pass a tombstone or a signpost without feeling an irresistible desire to cut their names on it.”
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