NASA’s Curiosity Rover has checked in on social network Foursquare - at Gale Crater on Mars
The first check in on another planet was made by the interplanetary rover on Wednesday using the app version of Foursquare.
Curiosity has lived up to its name, and gathered interest from well over a million followers on Twitter alone, where it regularly posts updates and pictures about its 23-month mission.
David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA said "NASA is using Foursquare as a tool to share the rover's new locations while exploring Mars… This will help to involve the public with the mission and give them a sense of the rover's travels through Gale Crater."
Foursquare users can also earn their own extra-terrestrial badges of honour over the course of the two year mission if they check in at various locations designated as ‘areas that generate an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.’
NASA said the badge programme will be launched later this year.
The rover is over on the red planet conducting various soil and rock based tests in search of understanding whether or not Mars is (or ever was) capable of harbouring microbial life. The rover's ultimate goal is Mount Sharp - a mountain inside Gale Crater that stands 18,000 feet high.
If this has peaked your lunar interest, you can follow Curiosity on Twitter, but sorry guys - no Instagrammed Martians just yet.
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