Despite actually being a car-sized robotic rover with an array of scientific instruments instead of internal organs and a radioisotope thermoelectric generator rather than a heart, Nasa’s creation has been deemed to have met the “influenced the news this year for better or worse” criterion and visitors to the site will now be able to cast a vote in favour of the Martian tourist.
Followers of the rover on Twitter will be well aware that, in addition to its capacity for scientific discovery over the two years of the mission, Curiosity’s team at Nasa has also worked hard to create a personality for the vehicle.
Tweets include anecdotes from the mission, an abundance of imagery — action shots, gifs and self-portraits — an attempt to check in on FourSquare, and an exchange with Britney Spears about the Oops!…I Did It Again video: “@britneyspears Hey Brit Brit. Mars is still looking good. Maybe someday an astronaut will bring me a gift, too. Drill bits crossed ;)” Curiosity joins other news-influencers on the shortlist including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Psy, Tim Cook, Marissa Mayer, Mo Farah, Ai Wei Wei and Felix Baumgartner. Its sole non-human companion is the Higgs Boson particle.
