NAMES OF THE COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFTS

Introduction. Over the past decade, the modalities of space exploration and the space business have undergone significant evolution. Importantly, there is a gap in interdisciplinary research related to the onomastic dimension of latter processes due to the insufficient number of studies of the current spacecraft names. Following the calls for a broader connection of onomastics with extra-onomastic methodologies, and in order to expand the onomastic terminological system, to understand the types of names, their taxonomy, and larger socio-political interactions between these names and the world, the paper explores spacecraft names (cosmoporeionyms) as a specific onomastic (sub)class from an interdisciplinary lens of onomastics and other fields of study. Purpose of study. The goal of the study is to analyze the understudied in the literature, emerging names of contemporary commercial spacecrafts as a specific component of the onomastic system. The object of research is the names of contemporary commercial spacecrafts that are operational or in the development stage. To reach the primary goal of the study, two key research questions should be answered: 1. What kind of names exist in the contemporary evolving onomastic ecosystem of “New Space,” and how does this landscape look from the standpoint of onomastic classification and taxonomy? 2. Which ongoing extra-onomastic socio-political and technological features affected and motivated the emergence of these names? Data and methods. Due to the interdisciplinary essence of research and the nature of the empirical material, in this paper, we use the mixed-method approach. To analyze the official names of commercial spacecraft, the traditional onomastic approach of thematic classification from the standpoint of naming motivations was implemented together with a method of mini-cases, where the onomaturgy of one of the most powerful companies, Blue Origin, was analyzed in more detail. The primary empirical material is presented by data from the websites of leading global commercial space technology companies, as well as governmental organizations, and other information resources regarding the New Space economy. Though not all the companies specialized in spacecrafts, the information from 106 current private space technology companies was collected and analyzed. Results and conclusion. Enhanced onomastic taxonomy of spacecrafts is proposed, where we can distinguish the following seven types of spacecrafts and related technological devices: space vehicles (including launch system vehicles, space cargo vehicles, crewed space vehicles), space probes (including interplanetary spacecrafts, orbiters, landers, rovers, asteroid-mining vehicles), rocket engines, artificial satellites (including satellites and satellite constellations), modular space stations, space telescopes, and other space vehicles and related technological tools. The naming patterns and thematic scope of cosmoporeionyms are wide, considering the range of options and motivations for the spacecrafts’ onomaturgs. Six most visible thematic groups of current cosmoporeionyms can be distilled, including memorial, mythological, astronymic, zoonymic (mostly ornithonyms, the names of birds), and letters from the Greek alphabet. Other groups of cosmoporeionyms might also be distinguished, but their role now is marginal (e.g., toponymic, ideological, and other names). The mini-case study of the onomastic system of Blue Origin company reveals the techno-utopian “blue planet” and nationalistic American new frontier thematic clusters. The study also reveals that for multi-billionaire techno-capitalist entrepreneurs, the naming of spacecrafts and related elements of “New Space” is a symbolic instrument to express their power, their visions of space nationalism, and for the accelerated privatization of space exploration.