On Thursday, Robert Downey Jr. set Twitter ablaze with a cryptic message about a secret collaboration between the Rolling Stones, NASA and the Rose Bowl.
He promised an epic announcement later that night. Fan speculation ran wild, with guesses covering everything from Downey and the Stones creating a space-themed album, to theories band members would reveal a human mission to Mars — or maybe even board a rocket themselves.
Tonight…🎸🚀🔭💥@RollingStones @NASA @NASAJPL pic.twitter.com/O3RACFglnP
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) August 22, 2019
“This may be the most exciting thing I’ve ever done,” Downey said in his message. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Before the Rolling Stones played at the Rose Bowl that night, Downey came out on stage to screams from the audience.
The big reveal to the concert’s sold-out crowd ended up being, well, literally quite small.
It was about a rock the size of a golf ball actually.
NASA’s InSight lander touched down on Mars last year with the goal of studying the Red Planet’s seismic activity. Images captured on the descent showed the lander’s thrusters had rolled a stone about 3 feet.
Thus, NASA’s scientists, who give all kinds of unofficial nicknames to various discoveries, picked the obvious name.
Here’s how Downey explained it.
“While landing on the Red Planet’s surface, it displaced a rock that rolled a fair distance in view of its onboard cameras,” Downey said during the reveal at the concert. “And some scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a fit of fandom and clever association, they put forth, ‘Why don’t we name it Rolling Stone Rock?’”
Downey then asked the crowd for their “vote” on the naming and was met with cheers. Later, Mick Jagger said NASA had given the band something they’ve always dreamed of.
“I can’t believe it, I want to bring it back and put it on our mantelpiece,” he told the crowd.
So, how did NASA get superstars to hype up its latest mission? It turns out, they just asked.
One of NASA’s core mandates is to ensure the public shares in every discovery. Connecting to new audiences, however, isn’t always easy. Getting the Rolling Stones and Downey involved certainly can help. Downey’s Tweet had 164,000 likes as of Friday.
Laurie Cantillo, JPL’s deputy director for communications, saw an opportunity last year when she learned the Rolling Stones were coming to Pasadena. NASA and JPL reached out to the record label and the band loved the idea of working with space agency, she said.
The band came up with the idea to have the Iron Man star make the announcement. NASA and Downey had previously interacted on Twitter. The space agency offered its advice on finding Tony Stark, who was lost in space between the last two Avengers movies.
“Downey, a supporter of space and science, crafted a creative teaser video and live stage announcement that elevated the event to a whole new level,” Cantillo said in an email. “It was the perfect storm with four of the biggest brands in the world: NASA, JPL, the Rolling Stones and Robert Downey Jr.”
JPL geologist Matt Golombek has worked on every Mars mission since 1997. He helped choose the landing zone for the InSight mission, a flat piece of land selected in part for the lack of obstructions.
He chuckles at the absurdity of the biggest stars on this planet coming together to reveal the name of a golf ball-sized rock more than 30 million miles away.
“It’s a completely serendipitous series of events,” he said. “There could be no way to predict this would happen.”
Names are typically informally created to more easily identify rocks in scientific publications, rather than to honor legendary bands. Others have names like “Kitten” or “Snow White.”
This particular rock left divots in the sand-like terrain, providing evidence of how far it actually rolled. That doesn’t happen often as the force of the thrusters typically washes away such details.
“It’s a rolling rock, what else are you going to call it?” he said.
The planetary geologist met with Downey backstage at Thursday’s concert. The actor talked with Golombek about how the geologist had spent his career looking at rocks and landing sites on Mars, Golombek said.
Golombek said he recalled the agency once named a rock after the animated talk show host, Space Ghost, but it certainly didn’t garner this type of attention.
“This is once in the life time, clearly,” he said.
Correction: This article was updated to correct Laurie Cantillo’s title to deputy director for communications.
