Tweets from Mars

I’ve been meaning to write something about the current NASA Mars Phoenix mission – it’s awesome. In particular I think it is genius how NASA chose to use Twitter to publicize the mission. I’m not a big fan of Twitter by any means, mostly I find it annoying, but in this case I think it’s the right tool for job.

By and large NASA research missions get the shaft when it comes to coverage. Basically people only remember when things break, fail, or can’t convert between English and Metric units. Success is largely ignored and no one gets excited when things go right. NASA is helping counteract that with Twitter updates from the Mars Phoenix explorer. If that’s all they were doing it would be pretty cool. But the real stroke of genius is they are sending out the updates in first person as if the explorer itself is running the Twitter feed from Mars. That is so much cooler.

I think an anthropomorphic robot sending back updates from space is much more powerful than a simple press release blurb. If Johnny Five from the movie Short Circuit taught us anything….it’s America loves funny robots with human characteristics. The Mars Phoenix Twitter feed is fun and personable, check out some of these updates:

Looking forward to moving arm today. Will bend the wrist and flex the elbow. It's been stowed for 10 months so I'll move it slowly/gently. 09:24 AM May 28,2008 from web

Looking forward to an exciting day on Mars; My first dig in the dirt! Team calls this a "dig and dump" test of my robotic arm and scoop. 09:05 AM June 01, 2008 from web

I've got plenty of energy from my solar panels, so team has upped my work hours from 9a - 4p to 8a - 6:30p. No OT :( but more science :-) about 18 hours ago from web

I like the format because it celebrates all the small milestones that happen day to day during a mission. As imagery started to comeback they started to link in photos to illustrate what Phoenix was talking about. Additionally if people submit questions to the Twitter feed Phoenix tries to answer them.

@MarsPhoenix What's the purpose of putting the sample in the TEGA oven? about 21 hours ago from web in reply to MarsPhoenix

@charmcitygavin TEGA "cooks" soil samples until they emit gasses that I can "sniff" to learn what they are. I just hope they smell good :) about 19 hours ago from web in reply to charmcitygavin

I think this is a huge step in the right direction for NASA and the positive outcome will be getting people interested in science, engineering, and exploration. Plus there is always the bonus that by making a project anthropomorphic people can become attached to it (I would expect it’s easier to find funding for cute little robots people are attached to). I know the magic of anthropomorphism work on me because I got a little sad when I read:

Martian winter will be tough. I don't think I will survive it, but if I wake up in Spring, I have a "Lazurus" mode and will phone home! 10:29 PM May 26, 2008 from web

Here’s hoping the Phoenix makes it through the winter.

And here’s a link to the Twitter feed.