NASA & Foursquare team up on new badge for checking in at science centers

Foursquare users with a love for space and science have a new reward today: a brand-new badge from NASA, the space agency announced today.

Starting today, Foursquare users that like NASA’s account on the service may get a Curiosity Explorer badge, based on NASA’s extraterrestrial life-seeking Mars rover, whenever they check in to a NASA visitor center, a science museum, or a planetarium.

This isn’t the first time NASA has partnered with the location-based social network. The Curiosity rover became the first device to check-in on another planet when it arrived on Mars back in October, and it routinely sends updates from the planet in the form of factoids, Mars Photos, and other discoveries. And prior to Curiosity, NASA partnered with Foursquare to provide check-ins from the International Space Station.

NASA is one of the few government agency’s that really understands how to use the social web to both educate and promote what it’s doing. And the new Curiosity badge is yet another example of that. Also, anything that makes people pay more attention to science is a good thing in my book.