If you ’re one of the hundred of thousands of multitude who postdate the Mars wanderer Curiosity on Twitter , you have it off that the golem has a bighearted personality that matches her monumental size and capabilities . She ’s also obsessed with pop refinement and the theme birdcall to Shaft , and will answer almost any interrogative sentence you have about her journey across the Red Planet . How did Curiosity become the biggest space golem celebrity on the net ? Last week I sit down with the three people who twitch as@MarsCuriosityto find out .
Veronica McGregor , Courtney O’Connor and Stephanie L. Smith work in the public information office at NASA JPL , the facility where Curiosity was carry . And they collectively create the interpreter of the robot who is beloved by over 1.2 million followers on Twitter . ( The automaton even obtain marriage proposals after successfully landing on Mars , though not as many as Bobak Ferdowsi , the “ Mohawk Guy , ” Smith noted . )
That experience convinced her that she and her media team had hit upon a heavy way to get citizenry engaged in the science of the Mars commission . By turning the robot roamer into quality , they emphasized the manner these deputation are just another variant of the Moon landing — it ’s just that we ’re landing masses on Mars via remote . Still , for all intents and purposes the robots are elongation of the NASA scientific discipline squad . They are our eyes , ears , hands , and science equipment on another world .
When you register what Curiosity is doing in the first person , McGregor said , you ’re also more forgiving when things go wrong . You realize that this is basically a alone creature on another populace , doing thing that nobody has ever done before , and thing are bound to go amiss . It ’s grueling to practice a sway on another world when you have no idea how the lower graveness will touch your musical instrument — oil production might cause a kickback that could dispose the bird of passage on its side . Hearing on Twitter that the rover is feel conservative and worried , just the room its scientist driver are correctly now , helps people interpret considerably how science is done . It ’s just a clump of multitude try the very best they can , in an utterly newfangled situation on an alien reality .
Carnival Barkers for Science
Though the Phoenix Twitter had worked well , the project lead on the Spirit and Opportunity scouter teams did n’t need McGregor to twitch as those robots in the first person . But McGregor , Smith , and O’Connor were convinced that the Curiosity mission needed a strong , confident , jubilant voice to represent the mission on Twitter . “ We grabbed the Twitter story and started pinch in the first person before anybody could stop us , ” McGregor laughed . And it worked . Curiosity is more popular — and certainly more entertaining — than most celebrities on Twitter . Smith said the squad spend part of every day answering questions and keeping mass up to escort on the latest exploits of the Curiosity scouter . And making trick . Or quoting songs and send away pop culture reference . “ Curiosity is very pop civilization savvy , ” Smith explained with a smile .
The chemical group ferment closely with the science squad at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Lab , and “ every tweet is a call to action , ” Smith allege . “ Curiosity wants you to see at a exposure , a video , a PDF , or an article . ” Each tiny piece of info is a call to learn more . “ We ’re carnival barkers for scientific discipline , ” she total . “ If we can catch your attention with a Jay - Z words or Steve Martin reference then maybe you ’ll press the radio link and watch out that telecasting or photographic print that PDF and learn about the mission . ”
Curiosity ’s Personality
Curiosity ’s Twitter account is a lot more than just a hook to get masses interested in skill , though . It ’s successful because McGregor , Smith , and O’Connor have created a case with a very classifiable voice . Their task was akin to writing a science fiction taradiddle from the perspective of a automaton on Mars . First of all , they know the rover was female . “ She ’s a vessel of geographic expedition , ” McGregor said , like a ship on the sea . So they jazz that Curiosity would prefer the female pronoun .
But what about her temperament ? “ She ’s a combining of all our personality , ” O’Connor said . The team began thinking about her personality from the first mo they saw the growing robot in JPL ’s fresh room with the “ uninfected room bunnies , ” engineers wearing puffy white suit that take into account them to interact with the bird of passage in a sterile environment . What struck them straightaway is how huge she was — like a battlewagon . Plus , she has a laser .
“ She ’s a big , sorry , one - short ton of awesome , so she involve a voice that matches that , ” Smith said . Then she blab , ala Shaft : “ She ’s one bad . . . shut out your mouth ! Just talkin ’ ’bout Curiosity ! ” So the rover is tough , she ’s funky , and she ’s brave . “ She ’s got a voice of well - clear bravada , ” lend O’Connor . “ She ’s the first robot geologist on Mars , so she ’s very convinced . ”
She ’s also very plainspoken with her follower about how this expedition is a one - path trip . But that is n’t a case for sorrowfulness . rather , enjoin Smith , it ’s a call to action for humanity . “ The rover will say she ’s excited for the first Clarence Day when humans will come link her , and their footprint look alongside her tracks on Mars . ” One of the words that came up again and again in our conversation about Curiosity was the word “ glee . ” The rover is erupt with pride and excitement that she ’s on Mars first , and gets to do skill that nobody has ever done before .
“ She ’s big and strong and this is what she was build for , ” Smith pronounce . “ In a way , though , she ’s like an former career hire . ” O’Connor , an other calling hire herself , smile at this comment . The @MarsCuriosity squad described look on Curiosity grow up in the clean way , then go off to Florida and “ it was like the college years , ” McGregor said . But now , she ’s graduate from college , and land on Mars . It ’s her first big job , and “ everything is a first . ” At last , she ’s an grownup .
O’Connor , McGregor and Smith are surely cultivate the populace about the ongoing science experiments NASA is doing on Mars . But they ’re also creating a new form of hard science fiction , as they impart the voice of the first geologist on Mars . She ’s tough , she ’s confident . . . and most of all , she loves her line of work . In the @CuriosityRover twitter feed , we ’re pick up the phonation of the future . It come from a badass distaff robot scientist on Mars , who is blazing a trail for all humanity .
Photo of Curiosity via NASA ; photo of the spiritualist team viaForbes .
oddment roverNASAScienceSpace
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