First Video from the Surface of Another Planet

I read that Curiosity has a video camera to send back video from the Martian surface, which I assume it can shoot while it's mobile (err... crawling, I suppose).

This is a first, yes? Video shot from the SURFACE of another planet.

For some reason I find this really exciting. It's another major step towards actually "being there", as the leap from photographs to video is huge wrt feeling we've been somewhere/experienced something (hence why people can get so immersed in television programs/documentaries/etc.).

I read it will take at least 48 hours before we get good photos -- no idea regarding video.

reply to post by AkumaStreak


Link for schedule of livestream.

Will sure be cool to see the videos..

I'll bet the vid camera is rolling all the time, even now, but I doubt people will get to see much except what NASA chooses to allow ..They have a history of not much appreciating having to give anything out to the public except what they have to, to get people off their backs..

Proof of this is when they began encrypting their feeds.. Now everyone is supposed to feel very privledged to see whatever they can, for that which they payed for. Even with this, I am still eager to see whatever they decide to allow for public viewing..

reply to post by alienreality


Good point. Not to be Mr. Conspiracy, but we really should see COUNTLESS media coming posted from this mission without much delay. Tons of pics/video/etc. You are right, keeping any such materials private is only ideal fuel for conspiracy buffs... we paid for this mission after all.

Understand this video will be at 10 frames per second. Most media is shown at 23.98 fps, though some is shot in and shown at 30fps as standard.

Video = series a photos. That is all it is. 10 fps = 10 photos per second.

Olympics going on, aliens supposed to land in the middle, how about we spot aliens on the planet of "Mars".
What a story for a bad movie, or the next play in the ptb handbook.

Originally posted by Foxe
Understand this video will be at 10 frames per second. Most media is shown at 23.98 fps, though some is shot in and shown at 30fps as standard.

Video = series a photos. That is all it is. 10 fps = 10 photos per second.

Drat. Was assuming 30 fps or more. Still exciting though.

Dammit, when I saw the following on the website -

Mars Rover NASA Social
12:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET

Thought there was some heavy DISCLOSURE coming down the pike. But I guess they meant Eastern Time.

The mastcam will provide HD (1280 x 720) video at 6 fps. Not spectacular but that's a lot of imagery.
Probably more interesting to most people is the fact that it will be providing "true color" imagery, not greyscaled images through different filters which need to be diddled with to produce a color image.

Originally posted by Phage
The mastcam will provide HD (1280 x 720) video at 6 fps. Not spectacular but that's a lot of imagery.
Probably more interesting to most people is the fact that it will be providing "true color" imagery, not greyscaled images through different filters which need to be diddled with to produce a color image.

edit on 8/4/2012 by Phage because: (no reason given)

I thought the mastcam would provide 1280x720 at 10 FPS?

reply to post by impaired

Malin says "about 10", other sources say six.
6...10, not that much of a difference as far as what it looks like. Lets call it eight.

I remember hearing the first videos would be from the hazards cams. These images would be in black and white!?!

Seriously, WTF???

A 29$ cell phone has a color camera on it. Why would they still be using a b/w camera? You can always convert a color image to b/w. It is just ridiculous. This little mission has cost us BILLIONS. They images should be in 3D, color, and in HD. Whoever is running the camera dept at JPL should be fired. Spare me a crap answer about data management or broadcast time.

reply to post by QuantumDisciple

The hazcams don't do video.

A 29$ cell phone has a color camera on it. Why would they still be using a b/w camera? You can always convert a color image to b/w. It is just ridiculous. This little mission has cost us BILLIONS. They images should be in 3D, color, and in HD.

They will be color, they will be HD, they will be 3D.
Happy now?
www.space.com...

reply to post by Phage


Well, happier.

I am actually excited for this. I have doubts about a true live feed though. I want to see Mars in "true" color.

So it takes some 48 hours for images to make it to Earth?

I bet people will still call it a hoax

reply to post by Phage


I imagine they will have remote control on the frame rate or a intervalometer. I'm sure "they" do not see a need to capture any objects in motion.

reply to post by QuantumDisciple

I have doubts about a true live feed though.

Doubt no more. There won't be be one. The only live feed will from JPL and all we will see is some very nervous scientists (and animations) during the landing.

So it takes some 48 hours for images to make it to Earth?

What's the rush?
Yes, for the "good stuff". There will be a lot of systems checks to do before the high quality stuff starts being done. After all, "science" is its middle name. Pretty pictures for us are not the primary reason for it going there.

Originally posted by alienreality
I'll bet the vid camera is rolling all the time

I don't think they would have it going all the time. Their are some extreme bandwidth limitations from Mars to Earth. Although I can not say for certain, but I think any video that they do record will be short clips. Otherwise they will be spending all there time and bandwidth downloading video's from Mars with no time to get data from all the other scientific instruments.

They have a history of not much appreciating having to give anything out to the public except what they have to, to get people off their backs..

I don't know what NASA you've been following, but they are the only space agency that releases tons and tons of data freely to the public. The ESA, JAXA, ISRO and all the others only release a fraction of what NASA does.

For example. The LRO which is currently orbiting the Moon has had 10 PDS releases so far (with more to follow). The latest one contains about 28Tb of data alone!

I am calling BS, these people were nervous weeks ago about the "what ifs".....Now we got positive photos of Mars?! This isn't a James Cameron scene is it?

22 hours and 5 minutes to go!!