That’s A First: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Successfully Checks Into Foursquare From Mars

Drew Olanoff

Drew Olanoff has over 10 years of marketing, PR, customer service and support, relationship building and management, product management, and technical support experience in multiple verticals. Online, including mobile. He prides himself on being a connector. Connecting people, stories, information. He has worked under some amazingly talented and gifted PR pros while working for startups as a “Director of Community”,... → Learn More

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

I love foursquare, I check in from pretty much everywhere I go. However, I would say that the Curiosity Rover on Mars is seeing cooler scenery than I ever have. Today, foursquare reported that the craft has checked in on foursquare for the first time.

Here’s what the company had to say about it:

Today, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover checked in for the first time on Mars, marking the first Foursquare check-in ever on another planet (and the second check-in in space!). Carl Sagan would be proud.

Most excitedly, throughout its 23-month exploration of Mars (which began last month), the Mars Rover will continue to check in and share updates on Foursquare.

That’s pretty cool. Other than being a gimmick, this shows off the power of geolocation technology, as it can be used as a virtual “stake in the ground” in uncharted territory. With Google and Apple duking things out on maps and location, foursquare is quietly doing its thing, and quite well I might add. Its Explore tab keeps getting better, and the future looks bright for the company.

Google is doubling down on indoor geolocation, and I’d love to be able to check in from my favorite bar stool in the city on foursquare one of these days.

Until then, it’s safe to say that the Curiosity Rover will remain Mayor of Mars for quite some time, but hey I’d like to give it a run for its money. Track the Rover on foursquare, here.

[Photo credit: Flickr]


Company: foursquare
Website: foursquare.com
Launch Date: April 16, 2013
Funding: $112M

Foursquare is a geographical location based social network that incorporates gaming elements. Users share their location with friends by “checking in” via a smartphone app or by text message. Points are awarded for checking in at various venues. Users can connect their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which can update when a check in is registered. By checking in a certain number of times, or in different locations, users can collect virtual badges. In addition, users...

→ Learn more
Product: NASA
Company Soletron

→ Learn more