NASA is shutting down a number of social media accounts run by the Science Mission Directorate, together with the official Mars Curiosity Rover account on X. The group says it made the choice with a view to “make its work extra accessible to the general public, avoiding the potential for oversaturation or confusion.”
The “social media consolidation challenge” is concentrated partly on X, the place there are dozens NASA accounts affiliated with particular missions and areas of analysis. To this point 29 accounts are being archived or consolidated with different accounts, together with @MarsCuriosity and @NASAPersevere, the 2 accounts for the group’s Mars rovers. Posts about each missions will now come from the extra normal @NASAMars. Some social media accounts can even “rebranded to higher align with the brand new strategic framework,” NASA says, “reflecting a broader scope or a extra direct connection to core NASA initiatives.”
With “over 400 particular person accounts throughout 15 platforms” it isn’t precisely unreasonable that NASA is making an attempt to streamline issues, however there may be some a lot appreciated specificity misplaced when information and data is coming from a extra normal account. NASA’s Curiosity is beloved and the company’s analysis into Mars was seemingly extra well-known as a result of the social media account made figuring out with the rover simpler.
Past social media accounts, NASA might be heading into subsequent 12 months with far fewer sources normally. The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget contains round a $6 billion reduce to NASA’s funding. The restricted sources might result in a number of deliberate missions being cancelled The Washington Post reports, together with sending a probe to Venus, taking mineral samples from asteroids and finding out gravitational waves with the European Area Company.
