While the rover that she named etches a short but historic path across the red planet, rolling across an ancient flood plain and testing the composition of Martian rocks, 15-year-old Valerie Ambroise sits at home here, waiting for her summer job to start and wondering why reporters keep hounding her.

''I just named it,'' Valerie said. ''It doesn't mean I'm connected to it. Really, I don't feel connected to it at all.''

Valerie won an essay contest to name the Mars rover in 1995 with her suggestion that the breadbox-size mobile explorer be named for Sojourner Truth, the former slave who took to the road to preach emancipation and women's rights.

Valerie takes little credit for the inspiration: she had been researching Sojourner Truth for a civic oration contest when a teacher at St. Augustine Cathedral School here gave her the entry form for the contest, sponsored by the Planetary Society, a private group based in Pasadena, Calif., that promotes space exploration.