Birds on the Brain

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The Story Behind Curiosity’s Twitter Feed

Early Monday morning, NASA’s half-ton, nuclear powered Curiosity rover touched down on the surface of Mars. Minutes later, the rover tweeted, “GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!” The Robot’s outburst prompted a retort from Stephen Colbert. “I don’t know who this Gale is, but gentlemen don’t kiss and tell,” he admonished on his Tuesday show. But Colbert had his facts wrong—Curiosity is no gentleman. 

I discovered as much when I contacted NASA to find out who exactly is responsible for Curiosity’s sassy and flamboyant personality on Twitter, which has already managed to attract 900,000 followers. “She’s a robot with cameras, a drill, and a rock-vaporizing laser, powered by plutonium 238,” Veronica McGregor, Media Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told me. “She’s the biggest, baddest rover we’ve ever had, and she knows it. She’s got confidence.”

Benjamin Soloway — “Poet Laureates of Mars: Meet the NASA Team Behind Curiosity’s Twitter”