Life on Mars? Who knows? But it does have a Scots castle!
Part of Red Planet is named after landmark in honour of Nasa tartan
ITS crumbling stone walls are steeped in history.
Yet an ancient Scots monument has been officially recognised as the first castle on Mars.
NASA is exploring the Red Planet, mapping its alien geography and giving names to the newly discovered features.
And even though they are millions of miles apart, a small section of Mars has been named in honour of Duntarvie Castle in West Lothian.
The honour was bestowed on the historic ruin owned by kilt maker Geoffrey Nicholsby of Geoffrey (Tailor) Kilts, which designed a tartan for the Mars expedition.
The bespoke tartan has a red background to depict the surface of Mars, while blue depicts the waterrich past of the planet and four green lines represent its position as the fourth planet from the sun.
Dr Aileen Yingst, the Mars mission’s deputy principal investiga-
‘All the features have Scottish names’
tor, was so impressed when she visited Mr Nicholsby’s showroom at the castle in February that she added Duntarvie to the list for naming locations on the planet.
She told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that the car-sized Mars rover, Curiosity, had been exploring an area named the Torridon quadrangle, where all the features are given Scottish names.
‘After having the privilege of visiting Duntarvie, I asked for that name to be added to the approved list of names,’ she said.
‘On sol 2102 – a sol is the way we indicate we are talking about a martian day of 24 hours and 39 minutes rather than a terrestrial day – I was working operations and had the opportunity to use the name on one of the targets we acquired with our Mars camera.
‘Duntarvie Castle is an area of local bedrock in a geologic formation called the Murray formation.’
In the same sol, the team also used Dumbarton Rock and Duntelchaig – a loch in Inverness-shire – as names for features on the Red Planet.
The original Duntarvie Castle was built in the late 16th Century, although the site had been inhabited for at least 800 years. It was home to Alexander Durham, who held royal appointments, including Master of the Prince’s Wardrobe, granted by King James VI.
By 1826 the house was owned by the Earl of Hopetoun, and in need of urgent repair.
Uninhabited from the 1840s, by the 20th Century Duntarvie was a roofless ruin. For years Mr Nicholsby has been trying to obtain planning ermission to renovate the A-listed building, which he has developed in the meantime as a wedding destination.
Part of it is used as a showroom and office for his kilt company, which has made outfits for celebrities such as Robbie Williams, Sir Sean Connery and Dame Joan Collins. Yesterday Mr Nicholsby said he was delighted Duntarvie had been recognised on Mars, adding: ‘It means we are out of this world.
‘It’s obviously quite exciting to think Duntarvie Castle has a great history and is now a big part of our modern world.
‘We designed a tartan for the scientists of the Mars exploration project, and tartan scarves, ties, and kilts for them.’