The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Best Communication Campaign Practice

Markus Bauer Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin Keywords European Space Agency (ESA) European Space Agency (ESA) Science communication strategy, [email protected] [email protected] cross-media, video, social media

Mark McCaughrean European Space Agency (ESA) [email protected]

The communication campaign for Rosetta has been the biggest success in the history of European Space Agency outreach, resulting in global awareness for the agency. The mission itself is an extraordinary operational and scientific success, but communicating only the operational and scientific firsts would likely not have brought theRosetta orbiter and Philae lander to the attention of so many people, and would not have made the mission part of people’s lives across the globe.

The additional impact brought to the mission through the communication campaign was based on a strategic approach focusing on: real-time release of information with maximum transparency; direct real-time access for media and social media; adding a human dimension to the story; and communicating the risks openly in order to manage expectations.

In this article we describe our overall strategy, illustrate its implementation, and provide the framework for subsequent articles in this journal highlighting specific aspects of the campaign in more detail.

Introduction neering of Consent (Bernays, 1947)1 the well above the threshold by highlighting scope of the Rosetta communication cam- the huge challenges and risks associ- Does a space science mission designed to paign was designed to adapt to today’s ated with each step. accomplish a series of historical firsts need societal communication reality, in order to • Although communication from Earth a communication strategy? Should the share the mission with as many people as with the spacecraft could take anywhere achievements not speak for themselves possible. between 12 and 45 minutes one way and draw everybody automatically to the ­during this phase of the mission, and news? Is content no longer king, making its There is no doubt that Rosetta lends itself image processing might take more than way into the public domain without assis- very well to communication. The adven- a day, we had to stay as real time as pos- tance? In today’s world, with its noisy soci- ture of comet exploration allowed people sible in communicating. Both successes etal communication and fierce competition to experience an unknown world, touched and potential failures had to be relayed for attention, this is not a given. It was evi- with an element of risk, as this had never near-live to provide everyone with a ring- dent from the beginning that even Rosetta’s been attempted before. The mission’s side seat. historic achievements would need a com- over-arching scientific themes concern- • Going live had the potential to ­foster prehensive, strategic approach to com- ing the origins of the Solar System, and understanding, support, trust and munication in order to be made as widely potentially the origins of the water and life engagement. The aim was to treat peo- ­visible as possible. on Earth, along with a series of world firsts ple with the greatest transparency, so including rendezvousing with, escorting, that they would know, simultaneously and landing on a comet, provided ideal with us in the mission control room, The strategy stepping stones to build up and nourish what was going on hundreds of millions excitement through all of 2014. of kilometres away. The formal European Space Agency (ESA) • Communicating the considerable risks Rosetta communication plan states: The overall strategic approach was based of failure had to be properly managed, on the following assumptions and key hoping for the best and being prepared The purpose of the communication cam- ideas: for the worst. paign is to raise awareness, understand- • A global impact would only be achieved ing, and support by providing information • Given the poor signal-to-noise ratio by cooperating closely with ESA’s part- and opportunities to engage. in today’s societal communication, ner national space agencies, research we needed to make sure that the key institutes, and space industries, and More specifically and following Edward L. events, namely the wake-up from hiber- only if they were in a position to imple- Bernays’ influential 1947 essay The Engi­ nation, rendezvous, and landing, were ment their own targeted campaigns —

CAPjournal, No. 19, March 2016 5 The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Communication Campaign

Figure 1. Rosetta communication teams, with some of the landing day programme participants, on 12 November 2014. Credit: ESA/J. Mai

in full coordination with ESA — to reach ­communication, especially in their national information to fit their national and cul- national audiences. contexts. Thus, while Rosetta is an ESA- tural environments, and to add their spe- • Global coverage would only happen led mission and ESA is a genuine global cific angles. Press conferences and media if (social) media had real-time, direct brand, it was important to ensure that events were broadcast live over the internet access to all information and could turn Rosetta was present in each of the mem- and on satellite. This allowed partners to this into real-time coverage. ber states too. Hence it was essential to put build local or national events around them, in place an effective mechanism to coor- making those events attractive to their own Additional valuable engagement could dinate and cooperate on communication communities. be achieved if we succeeded in making and outreach. this mission part of people’s daily lives, The coordination teleconference also perhaps by assigning Rosetta and Philae In reality, the resulting modus operandi evolved into a forum to launch and develop anthropomorphic personalities, embarking in the ESA context is usually a mixture of new activities. For example, the competi- on an exciting exploration mission deserv- cooperation and competition. To ensure tion to name the landing site of Philae was ing empathy. that cooperation prevailed over competi- planned and executed jointly by Agenzia tion on this occasion, all Rosetta communi- Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Centre national ESA scientific missions have often been cation activities were coordinated, with the d’études spatiale (CNES), Deutsches in the global spotlight before, for exam- main vector being a weekly ­teleconference Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) ple with the Huygens landing on Titan2, starting in late 2013, involving as many and ESA. The group also discussed short- the discovery of Martian methane through partners as possible from ESA member comings and ways to improve matters. Mars Express3, and Planck’s images of the states and from the USA, including national The trust built up over the course of 2014 cosmic microwave background, the left- space agencies and individual research proved vital in resolving occasional con- over light from the Big Bang4. However, institutes involved in the mission5. flicts of interest to the benefit of the com- the Rosetta communication campaign mon goal of communicating the mission required not only building up, but also The aim of these meetings was to exchange as effectively as possible. The weekly tele­ maintaining, engagement and attention for information; share communication material conferences became a strong tool of col- a whole year and beyond, and on a global and products; agree on publication time- laboration for the Rosetta communication scale; a challenge that ESA had not had to lines, press conferences and their line-ups; campaign and its roll out. master before. balance visibility amongst partners; and above all, to ensure a coordinated release Trust was also key in the relationship of the same information at the same time in between the ESA communication team Cooperation and coordination order to maximise the impact of the Rosetta and people directly involved in the mission communications in all member states, the itself: the science working team, the mis- While ESA’s missions are designed and USA, and beyond. sion operations team, the science opera- funded on the basis of their scientific and tions team, and the mission management technological goals, as well as the appli- By circulating draft texts, images, and team. cation of their data, its 22 member states animations in advance of publication, all and partners also expect visibility through partners were in a position to adapt this

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One would assume — as most of the peo- Mission managers were initially­ opposed There were also risks associated with the ple involved were working for the same to the plan to broadcast the wake-up event next key step after wake-up, the series of organisation, namely ESA — that trust live, preferring to do it behind closed doors, ten thruster burns to bring the spacecraft is a given. However, in reality, it takes then issue a press release the next day to its rendezvous point 100 kilometres from time to build trust and it relies on posi- announcing either ­success or failure. From Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on tive common experiences while working the communication perspective, however, 6 August 2014 6. Although different, as there together. For example, in the lead-up to the it was clear that a live event could bring could have been chances to try again if the moment when Rosetta would wake from its a great deal of engagement if successful, rendezvous was missed first time, the key 31-month hibernation in January 2014, the and avoid any accusations of concealing to communicating the risk — even if diffi- decision to kick off Rosetta communica- problems if not. Either way, it provided the cult to quantify — was to be as transparent­ tions with a Wake Up, Rosetta! competition perfect opportunity to open ESA up to the as possible and to stress the fact that was met with some scepticism. For those world. when exploring new avenues one needs who had in mind mainly, or rather only, sci- to expect the unexpected7. All ten man­- ence, technology and spacecraft opera- At 18:30 CET, the clock started to tick and oeuvres were announced beforehand, illus- tions — the traditional inherent communi- the conversations began to get quieter ­trated in animations, and the associated cation content of any space mission — it throughout ESOC. Mission operations per- risks highlighted. As with the wake-up, the was not evident that a virtual shouting cam- sonnel were watching the screens in the day of final rendezvous was broadcast live paign was really suited to a Solar System main control room, while senior manage- from the ESOC main control room to share exploration mission. ment from ESA and partner agencies sat in the moment in real time. Despite this being the front row of the conference room, hop- the crossing of a more or less arbitrary line The ice was broken when it became clear ing, like everybody else watching around in space, the event was widely followed. that the daily, seemingly banal experience the world, to see the imminent wake-up of waking up had indeed resonated with signal. Everything was broadcast live via For the landing of Philae on 12 November the general public, leading to many elab- satellite and the internet while the minutes 2014, much more was at stake. Even orate video contributions to the Wake Up, passed without any news from Rosetta. though substantial effort had been put into Rosetta! competition and even more hits emphasising that Rosetta itself was already and likes on ESA web pages. After Rosetta By 19:00 CET, the number of TV and still successfully operating at the comet and came out of hibernation on 20 January cameras focused on the front row had would deliver the great majority of the sci- 2014, communication was seen as an increased dramatically. It had been decided entific results, it was clear that the general intrinsic part of the mission. that if no signal was received by 19:30 CET, public and media were nevertheless going an announcement would be made, calling to identify Philae’s landing as the crux of off the media activities for the night, while the mission. A failure of the landing could Communicating risk still giving Rosetta more time to make con- have jeopardised the public’s perception of tact. At 19:18 CET, just as Paolo Ferri, head the mission and damaged the ESA brand8. The Wake Up, Rosetta! campaign of ESA’s mission operations department, Thus, even more intense advance commu- was designed to bring awareness to a was about to leave the main control room nication efforts were needed to highlight ­critical point in the mission’s timeline. to go and make that announcement, the and explain the risks associated with the On 20 January 2014, after 31 months in wake-up spike appeared on the moni- landing, and how Philae fit into the wider ­deep-space hibernation, Rosetta’s com- tors and was broadcast around the world, mission. Two major communication activi- puter was supposed to start reactivating ­followed by great relief and joy. ties were implemented to prepare for land- the spacecraft at 11:00 Central European ing in this regard. Time (CET) spacecraft time, bring it out The full 48 minutes of hope and nail-biting of a stabilising spin, establish its attitude, worries had been carried live on TV and During the press conference held at ESA then send a signal to Earth with an arrival the internet, and the reward was enormous. Headquarters in Paris on 15 September time during a window starting at 18:30 CET. Half a million people had watched ESA’s 2014 to announce the selected land- If all went well, contact would be signalled online feed and they immediately appreci- ing site, all mission and scientific experts via a spike in an otherwise flat line on ated their ringside seat and direct real-time control monitors at the European Space link to the mission, even in a moment when Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, things were not going quite as expected. Germany. Transparency is key when it comes to com- municating risk: this is known from the text- Deliberately hibernating a spacecraft and books, but proved to be true throughout having it wake itself autonomously more the delayed wake-up. than two and half years later was unprece­ dented in the history of spaceflight and Wake-up day also set the scene for the not without risk, even if the chances of a rest of 2014, with a number of major doc- micrometeoroid impact or onboard system umentary companies including Discovery ­failure during that time were deemed to be Channel, Arte and National Geographic Figure 2. This is the signal that brought a nerve-­ low. In the absence of any contact with beginning their filming ahead of releases racking 48-minute wait for Rosetta to wake up to an Rosetta for so long, the tension was high. around the landing in November. end. Credit: ESA

The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Communication Campaign 7 The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Communication Campaign

stressed the risks associated with landing. Philae failing to secure itself to the surface, Simultaneously, social media — especially Philae would descend to the surface on a bouncing and flying across the comet for Facebook and Twitter, but also WhatsApp, ballistic trajectory, with no manoeuvring a further two hours, it was perceived very SnapChat, Instagram, Tumblr, and so on capabilities to avoid dangerous terrain, positively by the public. Philae was able to — have been experiencing a rapid rise in and given the unexpectedly rough nature deliver images of its final landing site and audience and reach, and with this a new of the comet — covered with craters, cliffs, perform a first run of scientific experiments dynamic in the ways that audiences share slopes and boulder fields — even the best before shutting down due to lack of sun- news and interact directly with ­newsmakers possible landing site would be hazardous. light, and was ultimately seen as a great has been born. success by the majority of commentators A more innovative approach to communi- and viewers. Correspondingly, no harm These changes have been accompanied cating this risk involved the short science was done to the image of Rosetta or ESA; by some degree of demographic division: fiction filmAmbition (McCaughrean, 2016). quite the opposite, in fact9. younger people up to 35 years of age pre- Initially conceived as a way to communi- fer to get their news online and via social cate the key scientific aims of Rosetta to media, while those older than 45 prefer non-traditional audiences including film (Social) media relations TV and online (Reuters, 2015). In terms lovers, gamers and internet surfers, it also of delivery, there is a clear trend towards played a key role in framing the risk. A core Since the landing of ESA’s Huygens probe the use of smartphones and tablets, albeit message of the film was that we humans on Titan in 2005, there has been a mas- without yet renouncing the desktop or the are ambitious, we explore, we take risks, sive shift in news consumption away from TV set. Using several platforms to follow and we learn from our mistakes. Released print and towards video, mobile and social news seems to be the norm. two weeks prior to the landing of Philae, it media. This clearly had to be taken into added a human dimension, setting expec- account when preparing and rolling out the This sets the scene for anyone who would tations, and emphasising that the risks of Rosetta communication campaign. like to be heard and to participate in soci- the landing and its inherent potential to fail etal communication today. It is essential to had the positive connotation that one has While print is in decline, television is still produce news oneself in formats suitable to be daring to explore and achieve ambi- of major importance and remains at a for social media and mobile devices, pref- tious goals. high and stable level. But even estab- erably in video form, and to provide jour- lished newscasters such as the BBC, nalists and social media multipliers with The message that attempting a land- CNN and Al Jazeera are competing for a direct access to the events as they unfold ing would be bold and risky was clearly global English-speaking audience along- and the facilities to dispatch their broad- received, and no doubt contributed to the side the websites of newspapers such as casts or stories rapidly to their audiences. intense worldwide interest on landing day: The Guardian and The New York Times, would Philae make it? Although the landing and newer, purely online players such as Although social media have been used did indeed not go according to plan, with Huffington Post, Slate, and Buzzfeed. throughout the mission, these wider

Figure 3. François Hollande, President of France, views 3D images during the comet landing event. Credit: CNES/PIRAUD Hervé

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­lessons were particularly important dur- to the Reuters Institute Digital New Report ing the implementation of communication for 2015, Twitter is seen much more as an for the main mission events of wake-up, active destination for news by an audi- ­rendezvous and landing. ence that is deeply interested in the latest developments, compared with Facebook, At each event, we witnessed a growing for example (Reuters, 2015). Accordingly, interest and participation by conventional ESA’s various Twitter accounts, not least and social media outlets. Recognising that the account representing the Rosetta the landing was going to be the most pub- spacecraft, which was tweeting in the first licly significant event, we set up a perma- person (Baldwin et al., 2016), became the nent press centre at ESOC. Operations primary lead in for real-time social media started two days in advance of landing, news engagement. with journalists and social media produc- ers informed about the status of the mis- During landing day, a special cooperation sion and preparations for the big day, agreement was established between ESA along with interview opportunities with key and Twitter Germany, with a Twitter cura- participants. tor onsite at ESOC to help ensure that the news of the landing was quickly picked up Landing day itself saw a fully-fledged stage across their audience. As a result, the land- programme at ESOC featuring scientists ing became the top trending topic glob- and engineers explaining the challenges of ally on the day, as heads of state, repre- the landing, progress and the status quo. sentatives of global brands, and a very The programme started early in the morn- wide section of the public engaged heav- ing, as Philae was deployed from Rosetta, ily with ESA via Twitter, leading to a jump Figure 4. Promotional poster for the film Ambition. and continued through the day, as the in follower growth for the @ESA_Rosetta Credit: ESA/Platige Image first touchdown took place, and into night, account during the week of landing from when the world was informed of Philae’s 90 000 to 284 00011. them. A key way of achieving this was to final landing. place the human dimension of the mission This also extended to a crossover media in the foreground. The programme also included live links campaign, with selected tweets appear- to the Lander Control Center at DLR ing embedded in the ESA TV live broad- An obvious method for humanising the in Cologne, and the Lander Science cast, and combined with ESA’s channels story was to emphasise the people who Operations and Navigation Center at CNES on Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ were making the mission happen when- in Toulouse. Media were present at both Hangouts, and YouTube, the mission’s ever possible, ensuring that they were seen sites. social media activities played a very sig- presenting Rosetta on video and during the nificant role in spreading the landing day live events. Mission scientists, operators, The programme was streamed live by news around the world. engineers, and managers were featured ESA10 to the internet, where it was watched intensively in ESA TV broadcasts and vid- by ten million people, and made availa- eos, external TV interviews, documenta- ble via satellite to the world’s broadcasters Making the mission personally ries, and online channels such as Google and their much larger audiences. The live relevant hangouts. They were briefed not only to broadcast was used by many European talk about the facts, but also to describe institutes and space agencies as a core While content is still king, in the modern what their work on the mission meant to part of their own events: one significant era of social, video, and mobile channels, them personally. example was the CNES-organised event it also needs to be of personal relevance. held at the Cité des Sciences in Paris in the The big philosophical questions posed During the live events, this approach gave presence of François Hollande, the French by Rosetta can seem less pressing and people a connection behind the scenes. President. rather remote compared to the problems They were able to witness scientists and of daily life, and yet the connection can be engineers nervously sitting through the At ESOC, there was a huge media pres- made, as they can be linked to the human nail-biting minutes when Rosetta woke up ence, including a large number of satel- condition.­ late from 31 months of hibernation, and lite broadcast trucks. Approximately 360 the flight director’s tears of relief once the media representatives were present and Thematically, the search for an under- touchdown had successfully taken place 1400 interviews were conducted onsite or standing of the formation of the Solar after decades of work. remotely via TV, radio, or online channels System and for the origins of water and life on landing day alone. Both numbers are are among the big scientific questions that Several key individuals involved in the mis- unprecedented in the history of ESA. Rosetta is engaged in. The challenge for sion, including the flight director and the communications is to find ways for ­people project scientist, became well known in With regards to social media, a special to connect to those main themes, and for their own right in the media and across emphasis was put on Twitter. According people to identify and sympathise with social networks. They became the faces of

The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Communication Campaign 9 The Strategy and Implementation of the Rosetta Communication Campaign

Rosetta, real people who the public could Made in secret, promoted virally via a As a result of this combined anthropomor- relate to because they showed their emo- fake Hollywood-style trailer, and launched phic approach, both Rosetta and Philae tions and the human aspect of their work. just two weeks before the comet landing, have been adopted empathetically by Ambition succeeded in grabbing ­public many, adults and children alike, and there Beyond this direct link to people working and media attention, with more than have been many occasions when strong on the mission, we also developed two 1.5 million views by landing day, and over emotions have been stirred up by the pair, competitions designed to highlight ­specific 3 million to date. That the film was actu- not least at the moment when Philae’s emotions and provide opportunities for the ally about a real space mission came as battery dwindled after three days on the public to empathise with the mission and a positive surprise to many, and ESA was comet. People continue to ask for more the spacecraft (O’Flaherty et al., 2016). congratulated for thinking outside the box episodes of the cartoons, probably the Both focused on common experiences, and pushing science communication to greatest compliment one could hope for. linking the adventures of Rosetta and new levels. Philae to routines of daily life (Berger, 2013), in the hope that while going through them, Another essential step in fully exploiting Conclusion people would also think about Rosetta. the human dimension within the com- munication of the mission was the crea- Even a mission like Rosetta, which is already The first competition had the goal of get- tion of anthropomorphic personalities for communication-friendly by its very nature, ting the public to (virtually) help wake the the two robotic protagonists, with Rosetta can gain enormously through a concerted, spacecraft from hibernation12. Waking up and Philae embarking on an extraordinary strategic communication campaign span- or waking up another person happen daily adventure of comet exploration together ning a wide range of approaches and audi- for almost everyone on Earth: it is a routine (Mignone et al., 2016). ences, bringing global visibility and wide- we all share. The competition asked people spread public engagement. to submit videos with their wake-up mes- While this first-person anthropomorphic sage to Rosetta, and the resulting creativ- approach has been used to promote By stressing the human dimension, per- ity, positive online feedback, and sharing other space missions, including NASA’s sonalising the two protagonist spacecraft, via the #WakeUpRosetta hashtag started Mars rover Curiosity16 and JAXA’s asteroid telling the comet exploration adventure in quite a buzz on social media. The qual- probe Hayabusa17, we were able to develop compelling visual ways, and allowing the ity of the videos submitted suggested that a wider and more engaging approach with public and media to have a real-time ring- some people had already made Rosetta Rosetta and Philae, not least because the side seat for engagement and interaction, part of their household and maybe even two spacecraft were able to interact. the Rosetta communication campaign their wake-up routine13. helped create the fertile ground out of While it was decided from the beginning which arose huge awareness of and inter- The other routine experience that we that they would communicate in first person est in the mission around the world. tapped into was the feeling of impatience via Twitter, their much-loved visual appear- to arrive when on the last leg of a journey. ance as cartoons came as a by-product The Rosetta, are we there yet? competi- of the promotion of the Wake Up, Rosetta! Notes tion14 linked the imminent arrival of Rosetta competition. at its target comet in August 2014 to the See also Edward L. Bernays 1965, Biogra- holiday season in the northern hemisphere The two representations turned out to be phy of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations at that time. Again the creative quality was complementary. While Twitter allowed for Counsel, (London: Simon & Schuster) very high and showed that certain core immediate real-time dialogue between the 1 More on Huygens and Titan: http://www.esa. groups of people were well engaged15. two spacecraft and between the space- int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini- craft and their followers on Earth, the car- Huygens Our short science fiction filmAmbition was toons made it possible to access the full 2 The discovery of Martian methane through also a very important vehicle to highlight palette of human emotions by showing Mars Express: http://www.esa.int/Our_ the human dimension (McCaughrean, the shared experiences of an older sister Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/ 2016). Starting from the title itself, the film and a younger brother on an exciting, but Mars_methane_and_mysteries was aimed at singling out one of human- hazardous,­ adventure. 3 More on Planck and the images of the kind’s primary drivers when it comes ­cosmic microwave background: to accepting risk as we reach out in our The Twitter dialogue, even though largely http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_ Science/Planck exploration of the Universe. It also pro- scripted in advance, provided instanta- 4 vided a bridge spanning from the dream neous engagement with the mission as it Regular participants of the weekly that Rosetta was 30 years ago to the real- unfolded in real time, including unforeseen ­coordination teleconferences were: ASI, CNES, DLR, UK Space Agency, Swedish ity it achieved in 2014 and still further to a events, such as the unexpected landing National Space Board, Istituto Nazionale possible far future. A future where people conditions in November 2014 or the revival di Astrofisica, Max Planck Institute für return to the big questions of the possible of Philae in June 2015. By comparison, the ­Sonnenforschung, NASA/JPL, TU origins of water and life on the Earth, gives cartoons provided the bigger picture and ­Braunschweig, Centre National de la both an intellectual and emotional ration- helped to put past events into context, to Recherche Scientifique, ­University of ale as to why Rosetta is an important mis- manage expectations and to share the sci- Uppsala, Finnish Meteorological Institute, sion for everyone. entific findings of the mission. Swedish Institute of Space Physics,

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Figure 5. Rosetta Flight Director, with colleagues, in the mission control room after the successful landing. Credit: ESA/J. Mai

­Observatoire de Paris, Norwegian Space 10 During landing day, @ESA_Rosetta gained McCaughrean, M. 2016, Communicating Centre, Institut für Weltraumforschung. 156 000 followers, @Philae2014 278 000 Astronomy with the Public, 19 5 The approach to the rendezvous was and @esa 50 000. Mignone, C. et al. 2016, Communicating ­presented in a continuous photo stream 11 More on the Wake Up, Rosetta! campaign Astronomy with the Public, 19 stemming from the Navigation Camera on can be found here: http://www.esa.int/Our_ O’Flaherty, K. et al. 2016, Communicating Rosetta. The fact that the higher resolution Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Wake_ Astronomy with the Public, 19 images from the OSIRIS science camera up_Rosetta Reuters Institute 2015, Digital News Report, could not be used for communication 12 Examples of the Wake Up, Rosetta! mes- Oxford. Available from: ­purposes during this time met with some sages created by the public can be found http://www.digitalnewsreport.org criticism on social media channels. Since here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/ December 2015, OSIRIS has provided a Space_Science/Rosetta/The_competition_ regular image stream of recently acquired winners_who_helped_us_wake_up_Rosetta images. 13 More information on the Rosetta, are we 6 Another example of an unexpected discov- there yet? competition can be found here: ery came when the shape of Comet 67P/ http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_ Biographies Churyumov–Gerasimenko was resolved and Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_are_we_there_yet it was anything but spherical, resembling 14 The Rosetta, are we there yet? winners can much more a duck with a body, a neck and be found here: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/ Markus Bauer is Head of the European a head. Space Astronomy Centre Communications 2014/08/28/rosettaarewethereyet-winners- 7 ESA had already experienced what it means Office and responsible for space science and announced/ robotic exploration for the European Space to recover from negative publicity in the 15 More on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity: ­Agency’s (ESA) corporate communications. case of the failed landing of Beagle-2, a http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/ He holds a degree in communication from the UK-led lander carried by Mars Express, in ­Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and December 2003, where it took almost two 16 More on JAXA’s asteroid probe Hayabusa: worked as a TV journalist before joining ESA. years to demonstrate the scientific success http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/muses_c/ of Mars Express. Mark McCaughrean is the Senior Science Advisor in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) 8 Landing day also saw the unfolding of a Directorate of Science, including responsibility for communicating results from ESA’s space ­significant online and broader media debate References about an inappropriate shirt worn by a key science missions to the scientific community member of the Rosetta team and seen and wider audiences. He holds a PhD in astro- Baldwin, E. et al. 2016, Communicating physics from the University of Edinburgh. widely on television. While clearly an impor- Astronomy with the Public, 19 tant and sensitive issue, the cultural and Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin is Head political implications have already been Berger, J. 2013, Contagious, 33, (London: of the European Space Operations Centre ­discussed in detail by many commentators, Simon & Schuster) (ESOC) Communications Office and responsi- ble for human spaceflight and operations for the and further analysis is beyond the scope of Bernays, E. L. 1947, Annals of the American European Space Agency corporate communi- the current overview article. Academy of Political and Social Science, cations. She holds degrees in American studies 9 The platform livestream.com was used to 250, 113 and interpreting from universities in Lille. enable livestreaming of the event.

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