“Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Best Practice Rosetta Mission

Emily Baldwin Karin Ranero Celius Karen S. O’Flaherty EJR-Quartz for European Space EJR-Quartz for Deutsches Zentrum für EJR-Quartz for European Space Agency (ESA) Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Agency (ESA) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Claudia Mignone Erica Rolfe Markus Bauer Vitrociset Belgium for European EJR-Quartz for European Space European Space Agency (ESA) Space Agency (ESA) Agency (ESA) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mark McCaughrean Daniel Scuka Maria Bennett European Space Agency (ESA) EJR-Quartz for European Space EJR-Quartz for European Space [email protected] Agency (ESA) Agency (ESA) [email protected] [email protected] Keywords Anne-Mareike Homfeld Andreas Schepers Social media, engagement, science ATG Europe for European Space ATG Europe for European Space communication, space science, Twitter, Agency (ESA) Agency (ESA) Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, [email protected] [email protected] Google+, SoundCloud

The European Space Agency’s comet-chasing Rosetta mission was launched in 2004, before social media became a popular tool for mainstream communication. As it reached its destination ten years later, new audiences were reached and inspired by this once-in-a-lifetime event by harnessing a range of outlets for communicating the key messages. These included traditional online platforms, such as news websites, blogs, and Livestream, as well as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, Google+ and SoundCloud. In this article, we outline the role social media channels played in making Rosetta one of the European Space Agency’s biggest communication and public engagement successes.

Introduction a wide reach across Europe and the world2. mission operations teams and instru- Each channel played a well-defined role in ment teams contributed to blog posts in Rosetta1 is the first European Space terms of the audience it reached and the order to introduce the spacecraft’s sci- Agency (ESA) mission for which social content it delivered. ence ­payload. With eleven experiments on media were employed as an intrinsic the orbiter and ten on the lander, this pro- aspect of the communication strategy. cess enabled us to lay the groundwork for Several Rosetta-specific social media Rosetta blog the science that would be carried out later accounts — @ESA_Rosetta on Twitter, in the mission and to explain why it was the Rosetta Mission Facebook page, and The Rosetta blog3 acts as a bridge between important, while also allowing us to build the ­rosettamission Instagram account — classic social media and the traditional working relationships with the various mis- were developed during 2013 and 2014, reporting line of the corporate ESA Portal4 sion teams. The blog was also an impor- and were used alongside the traditional and in-depth Science and Technology5 tant channel for explaining what the mis- reporting line of the main ESA website, the websites — the home of ESA’s press sion operations experts were doing, as Rosetta blog, and live press events, to build releases and news stories. The blog was Rosetta carried out a number of “opera- awareness of the mission. By coordinating initially set up in 2008 ahead of Rosetta’s tions-intensive” activities leading up to these mission-specific­ accounts with ESA’s flyby of asteroid Šteins and followed the arrival at the comet. existing social media channels (which mission up until hibernation in June 2011, include Flickr, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, before being re-launched in late 2013, A range of other topics were also pre- and Facebook), Deutsches Zentrum für during the preparations for the Wake Up, sented on the blog to provide context Luft- und Raumfahrt’s (DLR) English- Rosetta! activities. to the mission and to appeal to different language @Philae2014 Twitter account, audiences: these included a brief history and through the support of ESA’s coun- In the months following Rosetta’s wake-up of comet observations, the story of Comet try desks and Rosetta’s partner agency in January 2014, the spacecraft was pre- ­67P/C-G’s discovery, Earth-based obser- accounts information could be shared in a pared for studying Comet 67P/Churyumov– vations of the comet, and the evolution of number of European languages, ensuring Gerasimenko (Comet ­67P/C-G) and the artist’s impressions of the comet.

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hibernation. In all the press material lead- ing to the wake-up, the account was pro- moted as being the first official way to find out whether the spacecraft was awake; until this moment the account was deliberately dormant, mimicking the sleeping spacecraft.

During the lead-up to 20 January, the day that Rosetta was programmed to wake up, a social media campaign was run ask- ing people to shout — virtually — at the @ESA_Rosetta Twitter account, using the hashtag #WakeUpRosetta. This chance Figure 1. Example of the “Hello, World!” tweet being acknowledged in traditional media. to participate clearly appealed to Twitter audiences as it trended for several ­minutes On the final approach to Comet ­67P/C-G comments. By enabling a comment func- in Europe on the day, with peaks in the between May and August 2014, the blog tion, the blog allows the editors to have a number of tweets at 11:00 (CET) — the pro- was used to report the ten braking manoeu- dialogue with readers, as well as allowing grammed wake-up time on the spacecraft’s vres needed for the spacecraft to be placed readers to have conversations amongst on-board clock — and eight hours later in the same orbit as the comet and rendez- themselves. That said, it must be noted that between 18:30 and 19:30 (CET) — the win- vous with it. As the comet images became many individual discussions are dominated dow during which the signal was expected. clearer and more defined, the blog acted by a recurring group of 10 to 20 extreme- as the main repository for image releases, ly active commenters. Often questions that When Rosetta woke up, a simple but including the regular CometWatch series, arise in the comment section are the trig- familiar message of “Hello, World!” was which features images from Rosetta’s nav- ger for new blog posts to satisfy frequently tweeted, not just in English, but in the igation camera and still continues today. asked questions. Blog users have left many 23 languages of ESA’s member and positive comments regarding the level of cooperating states. This allowed follow- The blog was also used for live reporting technical details communicated on this ers to engage by re-tweeting in their own during the key events of wake-up, arrival, platform. native language, raising awareness across and landing, alongside audio-visual live­ Europe. The use of multilingual tweets was streaming. As a testament to the authority of the blog also a strategy repeated for the arrival in as a source of information about the mis- August, where “Hello, Comet!” was tweeted During the week of the comet landing in sion, many online and print-media journal- in different languages, along with a “post- November 2014, the blog was one of the ists writing stories reference the blog for card” — the arrival image of the comet. primary public information channels and additional technical details that may not be operated almost 24 hours a day over a included in ESA’s more general web arti- On the day that Rosetta woke up, the five-day period. After the landing of Philae cles or press releases, or to illustrate their @ESA_Rosetta account grew very sig­ on 12 November, the blog continued to articles with the most recent CometWatch nificantly by around 37 000 followers, with cover its activities right up until the pri- image. Furthermore, the mission scien- nearly 45 000 following the account by mary battery was exhausted overnight on tists and operators have cited the blog the end of January 2014. The use of the 14–15 November. This last important event as the first place they look for updates on Twitter account to announce the wake-up was not livestreamed and the blog was one aspects of the mission that are outside was reported widely in online news and of the only channels available to officially their own areas of expertise, and several crossed over into traditional news and TV follow the final hours Philae’s operations have engaged directly through the com- media channels, which set the stage for the on the surface of the comet, alongside ment section, answering questions and channel for the year ahead (see Figure 1). the Twitter accounts of @ESA_Rosetta, providing additional details for the readers. @Philae2014, @esaoperations, and three During the year, the personalities of external social media ­reporters who worked @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 (a first- alongside the ESA team that evening6. The @ESA_Rosetta on Twitter person account for the lander managed by 1.39 million views of the Rosetta blog on DLR, the lead agency for Philae) developed 12 November, and a total of 5.5 million The use of the Twitter handle @ESA_Rosetta as they followed events in real time and as views throughout the month of November, is the first time that ESA has created a their adventures were recounted through are the highest counts ever achieved on an first-person Twitter account for a space- the cartoon series. The tone of the con- ESA blog for any topic to date. craft, following as realistically as possible versations was of two friends on a great the actions of the real Rosetta spacecraft, adventure. The accounts tweeted each As of December 2015, over 530 posts have and translating technical information into other regularly, especially in the lead-up to been published (since late 2013) and the updates of 140 characters or less. The key and during the events of comet landing. blog receives between about 3000 and moment for the account was the wake-up 20 000 visits daily, with each post gener- of the spacecraft on 20 January 2014 fol- While the Twitter accounts play an impor- ating anything from tens to hundreds of lowing more than two and a half years of tant role in sharing content from other

“Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission 31 “Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission

also increased their follower count at the @ESA_Rosetta in parallel with a press key Rosetta milestones, indicating that a briefing on 13 November and operational complete level of engagement via Twitter updates provided as the events unfolded. benefits from both styles. The illumination conditions at the loca- tion meant that Philae would not be able to In addition to the 24-hour reporting line of charge its solar-powered secondary bat- the blog during the activities surrounding teries and was destined to enter hiberna- the comet landing during the week of 10–15 tion after completing its first set of primary November 2014, information was also battery-powered science experiments. shared in real time via the @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 accounts. They were The unexpected nature of the landing meant closely coordinated to maintain the con­ that no formal live broadcasts had been versational dialogue, with a number of scheduled for this hibernation event, and tweets around key moments agreed so the final Twitter conversation between in advance. During comet landing day @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 was @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 gained created almost in real time as we received 156 000 and 287 000 new followers respec- new information regarding the opera- tively. tional status of Philae — this was in stark ­contrast with conversations around other On landing day itself, farewell images taken key moments, which had been drafted by the two spacecraft of each other shortly well in advance. This spontaneous, after separation were returned to Earth and unscripted coverage was only possi- presented in a press briefing. In parallel, ble thanks to mission operators allowing the images were exchanged online through members of the ESA communication team tweets by the two spacecraft, a highlight to work with them at the European Space of the seven hours between separation Operations Centre (ESOC), including the and landing. Messages of support during human handler of @ESA_Rosetta, and with the descent and congratulations follow- DLR’s team at the Lander Control Center ing touchdown were received from around in Cologne, where the account holder of the world and from high-profile Twitter @Philae2014 was based. The twitter accounts including those of actors, pol- account operators were in continuous iticians, heads of state, astronauts, inter- Skype contact to discuss how to evolve national brands and TV personalities (see and conclude the conversation. Figure 2). The exchanges between the two accounts Figure 2. A sample of the messages of congratula- Twitter had officially partnered with ESA to during Philae’s final hours and minutes tions for the comet landing sent from high-profile give priority within their network on land- of operations in particular touched the Twitter account holders. ing day, acknowledging the historic impor- hearts of our followers. Apart from status tance of the Rosetta mission. Twitter pro- updates reported on the blog and shared platforms, making general status updates vided several services including access to to the Facebook page, Twitter was the and sharing new images and science special promotion channels, target group only other way to follow the events that results, the first-person approach cru- promotions, video channels, and a cura- unfolded on that night as they happened. cially makes it possible for the spacecraft tor service, all of which contributed to the It also provided the ideal platform for to describe how they are feeling. Often a wide reach. This included the presence of ­followers to express and share their emo- tweet will be accompanied by an image Twitter staff at ESA’s mission control centre­ tions, likely contributing to the high level of from the cartoon series to express how at the European Space Operations Centre engagement.­ they might be feeling during tense or excit- (ESOC) where the main activities were ing moments. By sharing human traits and occurring. The hashtag #cometlanding In the same way that @ESA_Rosetta had emotions, a direct connection is made with was used throughout, with peak ­volumes remained dormant while the spacecraft was human followers (Mignone et al., 2016; of tweets recorded around the times of in hibernation @Philae2014 did not tweet Vertesi, 2010; Gomez, 2014). By contrast, separation and landing. At touchdown the again until mission operators received other ESA Twitter accounts — notably, hashtag was the number one worldwide a signal from the lander in June 2015. @esaoperations and @esascience — trending topic. Although reliable communication between continued tweeting throughout the mis- the two spacecraft was not restored at this sion with non-personified content and fac- Soon after landing it became apparent time — prohibiting the Twitter spacecraft tual updates or scientific context, to ensure that the lander was not secure and had from continuing their conversations — the that they were strongly differentiated from bounced. It arrived at its final location on @ESA_Rosetta account (along with the the human voices of the spacecraft and the comet two hours after the first touch- Facebook page) continues to be asked lander Twitter accounts. It is interesting down. The first images from this location for status updates on Philae, a testament to note that the non-personified accounts were again shared by @Philae2014 and to the popularity of the two characters.

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Facebook, along with Twitter, is also a viewers and has since attracted over ­popular choice for people sharing their 380 000 views (by comparison, the hang- photos of comet-shaped potatoes and outs held earlier in the year attracted other foodstuffs and their Rosetta-inspired ­several hundred live viewers). Google+ artwork or baking, showing just how widely also shared the hangout on their page. As the mission has infiltrated everyday life and of December 2015 the full set of hangouts become a household name. has collectively attracted nearly half a mil- lion replays on ESA’s YouTube channel.

Rosettamission Instagram YouTube The rosettamission Instagram account9 was set up in late 2013, but was not actively ESA’s YouTube channel is used to share used until the launch of the Rosetta, are we video replays of events, scientific and tech- there yet? contest in July and August 2014 nical animations, and other unique video when it was used as an additional entry content, such as the short science fiction point to the competition. The platform is film, Ambition (McCaughrean, 2016), the now used to share the latest images of the Rosetta & Philae cartoon series (Mignone comet and has over 23 000 subscribers, et al., 2016), and new musical pieces by attracting a different demographic to the Vangelis composed especially for the Figure 3. Shortly after they were downloaded from more formal news-driven platforms. comet landing11. These are organised into the spacecraft on 12 November 2014 farewell images a number of Rosetta-related playlists for of the parting spacecraft were shared on Twitter in ease of access. parallel with live press briefings. Using ESA’s existing social media channels The overall ESA YouTube account attracted Rosetta Mission Facebook 3.5 million views during comet landing The Rosetta mission social media chan- week, a dramatic increase from the 167 000 The Rosetta Mission Facebook page7 was nels are supported by ESA’s own social views on 6 August, the date of the comet launched on 10 December 2013, on the media channels across Flickr, YouTube, rendezvous. As of October 2015, 8.7 mil- occasion of the first official media brief- Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Livestream lion views have been made on Rosetta- ing ahead of the wake-up of Rosetta and and SoundCloud10. To capitalise on the related videos, 27% of the total number on to provide the central point for the Wake reach of existing ESA channels such as the channel. Up, Rosetta! video competition (O’Flaherty YouTube and Flickr, playlists and photo- et al., 2016). The competition was imple- sets were created, rather than starting new mented using the Woobox tool embed- accounts from scratch. Flickr ded in the Facebook environment, making it possible for the public to submit entries ESA’s Flickr account attracted 16.8 mil- easily; the same approach was also used Google+ lion views on landing day, accounting for for the Rosetta, are we there yet? photo 15% of all views since the platform was contest which ran from July to August ESA’s Google+ channel has been used established in 2004. The all-time top-ten 2014 8. to share content and to host Google+ viewed images on the channel remain Hangouts since late 2013. A total of five the top ten navigation camera (NavCam) More generally, the Facebook page is not Rosetta-specific hangouts were hosted in images released on 11 November. Flickr a primary channel and is not news driven, 2014 and 2015 to present specific aspects also featured Rosetta images in its well- but is used by the communication team of the mission, allowing members of the known weekly blog. For comparison, ESA’s to share content from other platforms, in public to meet the faces behind the mis- Flickr channel gained 2.9 million views on ­particular new images, videos, and blog sion and to have a dialogue with them 6 August, when the first high-resolution posts, as well as links to local Rosetta through live question and answer sessions. images of Comet 67P/C-G were released, events. Followers of the Facebook page while average daily views at other times are spontaneously share their Rosetta-related Hangouts also offer an informal alternative around 50 000. photos and experiences on the page, for to a traditional press briefing, attracting example, photos of themselves or ­family a more general audience. For example, members wearing Rosetta T-shirts or during the last day of the comet land- SoundCloud showing what they have done with their ing activities, and due to the unexpected paper models of the spacecraft provided nature of events, a hangout was conducted The esaoperations SoundCloud account for the Rosetta, are we there yet? contest live from ESOC in place of a traditional live- was used to share a handful of authen- in July 2014. The most popular activity streamed press briefing. This had not been tic sounds from Rosetta, including correct was the unprompted use of the models foreseen, with the entire hangout planned pronunciation of the name of the comet to decorate Christmas trees in December on the day in the few hours before being and landing site12. In particular, an audio 2014. broadcast. It was watched live by 13 000 track, The Singing Comet 13, a ­sonification

“Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission 33 “Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission

of magnetic field data created by the people to discover ESA and its much wider the wide reach of the mission, publicised Rosetta RPC–MAG instrument team, was array of missions and activities for the first by our activities on social media. posted on this account on 11 November, time. the day before landing. Perhaps because A key part of the success of the overall it added a new layer to the immersive expe- A cross-media approach ensured that the communication achieved around Rosetta rience of being at the comet with Rosetta, social media activities were featured in can be attributed to the degree of trust this piece became a worldwide sensation, more traditional media output from ESA, that has developed between the mission widely shared on various social media including our TV channels and traditional teams and the communication team since channels and used by many news outlets press releases. Similarly, conventional out- the ­latter half of 2013, and this applies worldwide in their reports, with almost six side media including TV and newspapers fully to the social media aspects. Working million listens on SoundCloud. frequently referred to and used aspects of together, we have demonstrated the pos- the social media materials in their coverage.­ sibility and immense value of achieving global impact by providing live feeds and Livestream In particular, the first-person Twitter real-time social media reporting, even for accounts of Rosetta and Philae, in combi- — and perhaps especially for — high- Livestream was used to deliver live cover- nation with the anthropomorphic cartoons, risk events when the successful outcome age at wake-up, arrival, and during comet were used as part of a carefully orches- of an activity is not certain. Exposing risk landing week, and to reach a wide general­ trated social media plan throughout the and vulnerability is part of human nature, audience. For example, 10 million people year. This attracted significant attention and whatever the outcome, the emotional watched the live webcasts from ESOC dur- from traditional media, where it was lauded experience can be related to, be it tension, ing the period 11–13 November 2014, with as an effective way of allowing people to stress or the anxiety of an unknown situ- 74% of the views occurring on landing day. engage with the mission, further enhancing ation, or the jubilation and joy of shared According to Livestream it was the single its visibility. In particular, the conversations ­success for an achievement. This required biggest event in the history of the com- between @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 the communication team to work alongside pany. In comparison, 500 000 people had were featured in many online and traditional the mission operators to manage expec- watched each of the live webcasts during media reports of the comet landing events. tations in the build-up to key moments the one-day events on the occasion of the and also to be present during those key 20 January 2014 wake-up and 6 August Another measure of the extraordinary moments to ensure that the most accurate 2014 arrival at the comet. impact of the Rosetta mission can be seen information could be provided directly, and in the fact that it featured in the 2014 high- translated immediately and effectively into light summaries of many social media chan- social media updates (see Figure 4). Other ESA Twitter and Facebook nels: it was in Google’s A Year in Search, accounts Twitter’s Moments, and Facebook’s Year in During the demanding periods of 24-hour Review. Google also celebrated the suc- coverage it was also necessary to share The ESA Facebook account, the Twitter cessful touchdown in the form of a Google roles and responsibilities within the com- accounts @ESA, @esaoperations and Doodle released on landing day, created munication team to maintain the numer- @esascience, the Twitter accounts of in a formal partnership with ESA. Google ous social media accounts in shifts, having­ ESA’s major country desks and various also featured the comet landing in their draft tweets and blog posts that could be accounts of ESA’s astronauts and of the New Year’s Eve 2014 Google Doodle, this adapted as required as each mission mile- Rosetta mission partners, all played a time without prior contact with ESA. This stone was met (or not). With the commu- key role in helping to provide and share recognition by some of the biggest online nication team onsite with the sources of Rosetta-related content to different audi- and social media channels is testament to the information, robust information and ences and in different languages. They all experienced a boost in followers around the key mission milestones, and especially during comet landing.

Reflection

The use of a variety of social media plat- forms to target different audiences with specific content in a coordinated way has made it possible for us to bring a personal touch to the mission and to share its more human aspects alongside the more scien- tific and technical information, allowing our audiences to be a part of every step of the adventure. This approach not only raised Figure 4. The lead author of this paper (lower left) was present in the control room and able to receive direct awareness of Rosetta, but also led many confirmation of Rosetta’s wake-up, in order to send the “Hello, World!” tweet immediately. Credit: ESA/J. Mai

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Figure 5. Graphic showing ESA social media insights from wake-up (January 2014) to comet landing (November 2014). Credit: ESA

“Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission 35 “Hello, World!” Harnessing Social Media for the Rosetta Mission

­approvals for ­sudden new material could ics, and science ground segment teams 8 More information about Woobox can be easily be sought if and when the plan devi- at ESA’s European Space Research and found at: http://woobox.com ated from that which was originally ­foreseen. Technology Centre (ESTEC), European 9 Rosettamission Instagram account: Space Operations Centre (ESOC) and https://www.instagram.com/rosettamission The Rosetta mission accounts continue to European Space Astronomy Centre 10 A full list of ESA’s social media channels attract new followers today (see Figure 5), (ESAC) respectively, for their support, can be found here: http://www.esa.int/ESA/ keen to find the latest news, see the ­latest information, and engagement with our out- Connect_with_us images, and follow the adventure as reach campaigns.­ 11 Three pieces composed by Vangelis for Rosetta continues its scientific mission at Rosetta are available on YouTube: Arrival Comet 67P/C-G. Social media will remain (https://youtu.be/FJrUnzLsmZk); Philae’s a vital part of the mission right up until its Notes Journey (https://www.youtube.com/ end in September 2016, and the lessons watch?v=W8bVOGN9jSg); and Rosetta’s learnt from the Rosetta social media cam- 1 Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions Waltz (https://www.youtube.com/ paigns will be of relevance to future ESA from its member states and NASA. Rosetta’s watch?v=PUpSVxoCcik) missions and other scientific communica- Philae lander is provided by a consortium 12 The esaoperations SoundCloud account: tion campaigns. led by DLR, MPS, CNES, and ASI. https://soundcloud.com/esaops 2 ESA country desks are responsible for 13 The Singing Comet can be heard on ­communication on all ESA programmes ­SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ Acknowledgements and activities in local national languages. esaops/a-singing-comet 3 The Rosetta blog: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta We would like to thank the wider ESA com- 4 The ESA Portal: http://www.esa.int munication teams and country desks, 5 The ESA Science and Technology site: References along with Ruth McAvinia (former ESA http://sci.esa.int science communication), Design & Data, 6 Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla), Chris Gomez, E. 2014, Communicating Astronomy and our Rosetta mission communications ­Lintott (@chrislintott) and Steven Young with the Public, 14 partners at DLR, the Max Planck Institute (@stevenyoungsfn) joined some of the McCaughrean, M. 2016, Communicating for Solar System Research (MPS), Centre ESA communicators to report as Philae Astronomy with the Public, 19 national d’études spatiale (CNES), Agenzia completed science operations on the Mignone, C. et al. 2016, Communicating Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and the National comet. See: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/ Astronomy with the Public, 19 Aeronautics and Space Administration 2015/11/17/reminiscing-about-the-week-of- O’Flaherty, K. et al. 2016, Communicating comet-landing/ (NASA), as well as those based in research Astronomy with the Public, 19 institutes. We would also like to thank our 7 Rosetta Mission Facebook page: Vertesi, J. 2010, Communicating Astronomy ESA science, operations and flight dynam- https://www.facebook.com/RosettaMission/ with the Public, 10

Biographies

Emily Baldwin has a PhD in planetary science Anne-Mareike Homfeld is the science commu- Karin Ranero Celius is Editor-in-Chief for the DLR and is space science editor for the ­European nication officer at the European Space Agency’s English-language web portal and DLR Magazine Space Agency’s web portal, www.esa.int. She is European Space Research and Technology ­Centre and is responsible for DLR’s social media channels,­ the primary voice of the @ESA_Rosetta Twitter in the Netherlands. Her responsibilities include including @Philae2014. and rosettamission Instagram accounts, and organising press conferences, media relations and co-manager of the Rosetta blog and Rosetta web ­publishing. She is also the manager of the ­ Karen O’Flaherty is a scientist, editor and occa- ­Mission Facebook pages. @esascience twitter account. sional writer. She is chief editor for the European Space Agency’s Science & ­Technology and Robotic Claudia Mignone has a degree in astronomy, a Erica Rolfe is the chief online publisher for the Exploration of Mars websites, providing news and PhD in cosmology and a passion for telling stories European Space Agency (ESA), coordinating pub- information about the scientific and research activ- about space, science and the Universe. She has lishing across all of ESA’s online channels and ities of the Directorate of Science. been working as a science writer for the European leading the EJR-Quartz service team. She is also Space Agency since 2010. ­Claudia is co-manager responsible for @esa on Twitter. Markus Bauer is Head of the European Space of the Rosetta blog and Rosetta Mission Facebook Astronomy Centre Communications Office and pages, and provides support for @ESA_Rosetta. Maria Bennett is the chief social media publisher responsible for space science and robotic explora- for the European Space Agency (ESA). She is tion for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) corpo- Daniel Scuka is the senior editor at the European responsible for ESA’s YouTube, Flickr and Google+ rate communications. He holds a degree in commu- Space Agency’s European Space Operations Cen- channels, as well as curating the Space in Images nication from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität tre. For the duration of the Rosetta mission, he is and Space in Videos home pages on www.esa.int in Munich and worked as a TV journalist before join- working closely with the mission control teams and and providing support for @esa. ing ESA. specialists in flight dynamics and ground stations to update web, blog and social media channels on Andreas Schepers is a communication officer at Mark McCaughrean is the Senior Science Advisor day-to-day developments. Daniel is the voice of­ the European Space Agency (ESA). He is based in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Directorate of @esaoperations, and co-manager of the Rosetta at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Science, including responsibility for communicating blog and Rosetta Mission Facebook pages. and the European Astronaut Centre in Germany. results from ESA’s space science missions to the sci- Before joining ESA he worked for the Deutsche entific community and wider audiences. He holds a ­Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz. PhD in astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh.

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