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Why does NASA need multiple websites for the same mission?

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 30, 2012
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Keith’s note: The following is put at the bottom of most press releases issued regarding Mars Curiosity.
“More information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.”
Why does NASA pay to maintain three separate websites (two run by JPL) – all of which are out of synch with one another? NASA is constantly complaining that they never have enough money to run all of their EPO and PAO operations. Yet they can afford multiple websites when only one is needed? If you ask NASA about this (it happens with virtuallky every mission), you either get no answer, a shrug and/or sigh, or something really stupid. So, I am asking (again) …
Keith’s update: There’s also http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ which is the same as http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ – that makes three web addresses, two of which point to identical but parallel websites, and one that points to another, different website – all at JPL.
NASA’s Tangled Human Spaceflight Web Presence, earlier post
NASA’s Sprawling Web Presence, earlier post
NASA’s Inability To Speak With One Voice Online, earlier post

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

9 responses to “Why does NASA need multiple websites for the same mission?”

  1. James Lundblad says:
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    I think I can explain it. The nasa.gov page is the nasa missions portal, so anyone unfamiliar with the JPL site would find MSL there and then maybe find the JPL sites, or not if they got the info they were interested in there. One of the JPL sites is the JPL Mars portal which at the moment features MSL since it’s really hot right now, but in the past has featured other Mars missions. The other JPL site is the JPL MSL mission site, specific to MSL. 🙂

  2. Steve Pemberton says:
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    There is also an MSL section on the Solar System Exploration site at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
    The main MSL page on the site is at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov

    The Solar System Exploration site is also the home of the infamous MSL Landing Toolkit which was mentioned by Charlie Bolden in his message to NASA employees last month, which was the subject of some discussion here.   The landing toolkit is a little hard to find on the site, it’s toward the bottom of the page at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov

  3. Anonymous says:
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  4. DTARS says:
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    Cute little town of web sites lolol
    Didn’t Walmart one stop shopping beat out that model?

  5. James Stanton says:
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    I agree entirely. The sites are also very badly designed in that they are very showy but its hard to find some actual information.

  6. Michael Spencer says:
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    I don’t tire of watching the landing and the new video linked below by Steve is a fine addition to the library.

  7. 2814graham says:
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    I think what happens is that every NASA organization thinks they have something to contribute and therefore they are all out working on their own to produce content and since NASA has evolved to thinking everything goes on the internet, you see a proliferation of stuff out there. So they have by default organized their internet content by the way their organizations are organized.  

    This is not conducive to usability for a lot of reasons. The information is not organized by how people looking for information would anticipate. Most people outside of NASA do not understand that there are a Headquarters and a JPL and a KSC and universities all involved in different aspects of the mission and therefore if they want a complete picture they have to find all of those websites. So it is only by chance if those people, who are the taxpayers and schoolchildren of America, ever find everything.

    The other problem is that in the earlier years NASA produced educational publications, NASA Facts posters, and lots of other things they put into the hands of school kids and they were in libraries and on the walls of school classrooms; they made a big impression on many schoolkids. Now its all on the internet which depends on the kids finding their way to the right websites and staying long enough to find something that captures their interest. 

    Some at NASA might know rocket science, but they are not using their intelligence to figure out how to reach the populace in general or the school kids in particular. 

  8. Doug Booker says:
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    Maybe it’s the glut of web site designers and the mindset of NASA as a jobs program mentality.

  9. Stanley says:
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    It’s very simple there is not one NASA there are a bunch of little NASA’s who all have to have their say to promote themselfs.  It’s not about NASA or space exploration it’s all about getting a chunk of the budget.  So the more visible you are the better, and who care about the other people in NASA they are not us.
    It is sad.