It might be the end of the road for Mars Phoenix – the robotic vehicle that finally finished its five-month mission this week – but Nasa has already vowed to carry on the interplanetary dialogue.
Phoenix made waves scientifically, confirming the existence of water ice on Mars and finding potential evidence of life. However, it also proved to be a watermark of a different kind, as Nasa officials used social networking website Twitter to send messages from the Martian surface.
During its days on the red planet, Phoenix's Twitter account attracted nearly 40,000 fans who listened out for news of discoveries.
The widespread support that Phoenix received surprised and excited the team at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"The mission attracted far more followers than we ever expected and lasted longer than expected," said Veronica McGregor, the former CNN correspondent who now oversees public relations at JPL. "When I first set up the account, I intended to use it through landing day and maybe a day or two afterwards."
Instead it became a sensation, with space fans keeping abreast of developments over the internet or on their mobile phones.
McGregor said that the key seemed to be allowing people to get an inside view of one of Nasa's multimillion-dollar missions, and giving Phoenix a human voice.
"The followers seemed to appreciate having a source from inside a Nasa mission who could give them news and information and answer questions," she told the Guardian. "It was also helpful to be a bit playful on some of the posts and I suppose that is how the personality developed."
It probably helped that the successful mission came shortly before the release in the US of Pixar's blockbuster robot movie Wall-E – which features an endearing little gizmo bumbling around on the surface of a harsh and unforgiving planet.
But it was probably the Phoenix team's willingness to engage with the audience and use geek speak that cemented the robot's place in the hearts of the internet addicts who populate Twitter.
On analysing Martian ice for the first time, for example, Phoenix twittered excitedly: "An ice-containing sample made it into the TEGA oven. I can now say I'm the first mission to Mars to touch and then * taste * the water. FTW!"
Although it seems likely Phoenix has sent its last tweet, after it shut down as the cold Martian winter took hold, McGregor said Nasa has been bitten by the Twitter bug.
"We've started other Twitter feeds at JPL, and other Nasa centres have also started accounts for their missions," she said. "Personally, I'm continuing to post to @MarsRovers and I'll be starting @MarsScienceLab in the next few days. I'll post occasionally to @MarsPhoenix, too, with science updates and other news."
