US:Social networking sites open up space exploration
19 Nov 2008 11:00 AMBy Aaron Mackey of the Arizona Daily Star
ARIZONA, SHNS - When the Phoenix Mars lander succumbed to the Red Planet's harsh arctic winter early in November, dedicated amateur space explorers who followed the mission for months felt as though they'd lost a loved one.
To them, Phoenix had become more than a complex mix of metal, solar panels and circuits - it was flesh and blood.
Using social networking web sites such as Twitter and Facebook, more than 40,000 people became "friends" with Phoenix, following the lander's every move as it searched for ice beneath the Martian arctic.
And in Phoenix's last days, many left the lander encouraging thoughts and condolences, with some even going so far as to create epitaphs for the spacecraft.
Posting in response to the news that the mission had ended, one person wrote, "Why must the great die young?"
The intense connection felt by many who followed Phoenix - and the development of the lander's humanlike personality - was something mission officialssay they never anticipated.
What began as a way for people to stay engaged with the mission during its landing soon morphed into a phenomenon in which those working on educating the public about the mission were posing as the lander itself, responding with a distinct voice and personality.
"It certainly evolved," Veronica McGregor, a spokeswomen for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who crafted the "voice" of Phoenix, said of the lander'sonline personality. "We really thought that this would be a nice way for people to keep up with the mission, but we didn't expect this kind of response."
Phoenix travelled 675 million km and scientifically proved that there is water on Mars. Given Phoenix's continued online popularity - more than 1,000 people signed up for the lander's Twitter feed after the mission ended - NASA officials plan to use the spacecraft's online avatar as a blueprint for how future missions can engage the public about space exploration.
Giving Phoenix a personality wasn't something McGregor initially planned.
Rather, she created the Twitter feed so that people had a way to get near-constant updates on the mission's status during its descent to the surface of Mars.
Because a lot of complex tasks were occurring in the hours before Phoenix landed, Twitter seemed like the perfect place to keep a few dedicated fans in the loop, McGregor said.
The social-networking site allows users to post short updates about what they're doing, allowing other users to see exactly what friends and relativesare up to.
Almost immediately after posting, McGregor's audience began growing. Hundreds of people began signing up to get updates on Phoenix and ask questions about the mission.
More than 39,000 people are subscribed to the feed.
Many questions showed a deep understanding about planetary exploration, while others were playful and funny.
McGregor found herself responding in the first person, talking as Phoenix, and playing off the tone of the questions.
"A lot of the perkiness really developed as the result of the types of questions I was getting back," she said. "And once I started writing in first person, immediately people started writing back and responding."
Not wanting to confuse anyone who might actually believe Phoenix was human,McGregor was careful to make it clear that she was writing the updates andanswering questions.
Keri Bean, a student at Texas A&M University, helped Phoenix make friends.
Bean spent several weeks in Tucson helping download images from Phoenix's main camera. In her spare time, she set up Phoenix's Facebook profile.
Facebook allows users to upload photos, post updates and establish a profile. The web site also allows users to befriend one another, creating an online community.
Within a day of the lander's profile going up, 1,000 people requested friend status. Phoenix's popularity has grown to more than 3,600 friends, which makes the lander quite popular, comparatively speaking - actor Alec Baldwinhas roughly 1,350 friends on Facebook.
"With Facebook, it's easier to keep up with the mission and reach out to anaudience," Bean said. "Most people want to know what really is going on, but they don't have an easy way to talk to the team."
Between Facebook and Twitter, fans were able to log on and get as much information about the mission as they wanted.
While the mission has come to a close, McGregor plans to continue to updatethe mission's Twitter feed with new discoveries made after scientists havehad an opportunity to analyse the data.
And while it might be too soon for friends of Phoenix who are still mourning the lander, McGregor has a new friend she'd like them to meet.
"I've started a page for the next rover headed to Mars, and about 2,900 people have signed up for it," she said.
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