Millions Flock to NASA's Mars Web Site
Jan. 16 -- In this week's Cybershake, we note how NASA is tickled pink over the success of its robot rover on Mars — and the interest it's generating online. Plus, a new survey says there's a new power figure emerging in this year's election campaigns: the Net.
Mobbing Mars Online
NASA scientists couldn't be more pleased with the pictures being sent from its Mars rover Spirit. And the celebration isn't just among the researchers.
Jeanne Holm, chief knowledge architect at the Jet Propulsion Lab for NASA in Pasadena, Calif., says Mars fever has caught on all over the world — thanks to the World Wide Web.
"We've had a huge amount of interest [online]," says Holm. "We've had over 15 million people with 1.8 billion hits [on the NASA Web site] since [the rover's landing on] Saturday. That swamps all previous government events on the Web."
Holm says it take about 30 minutes for the pictures from Spirit to become live on the Web due to the millions of miles the signals must travel before reaching NASA's computers. But she says there's no censorship: What is seen online is exactly what NASA scientists see at JPL.
"If a Martian walked up [to the rover], we'd be more than happy to display that image right away," laughs Holm.
Eventually, all the images that Spirit and its sister rover, Opportunity, which is expected to touch down on Jan. 24, transmit will be used to create a virtual tour of the Martian landscape.
"We'll put up a video summary each week of what both Spirit, and later, Opportunity will have seen and will let people control where the rovers go — in virtual reality — not in real time," says Holm. "They'll be able to explore different rocks and see what the scientists have seen and make their own discoveries."
But Holm notes that there are plenty of other activities that will keep online visitors busy and exploring the NASA Web site. In fact, NASA is even using the Web site to encourage active participation from kids and other space exploration enthusiasts.
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