Amazing Video Footage of Mars, Next Best Thing to Actually Being There

If you're passionate about Mars and an avid fan of Curiosity's activities at Gale Crater, then you'll almost certainly love the video below. It's really quite remarkable because, as you might know, Curiosity is not capable of recording video and yet the clip looks like it was created in-situ at Gale Crater. How this feat has been achieved is explained below, but first let's have a look at the beauty of Marias Pass on Mars:
I've seen fragments of this in another video before and always wondered how this was accomplished. The technique provides a unique look & feel for the Martian terrain (that we don't get from Curiosity's flat 2D MastCam imagery) and an unprecedented three-dimensional view of the surface features (in real-life color and shading).

This kind of immersion is possible by creating a 3D mesh from the stereo views of Curiosity's navigation cameras (greyscale). This means that the shapes and general dimensions of the rocks and landscape are amazingly accurate. The whole scene has been imported into Blender (a free 3D editing program), merged with high-resolution color images from Curiosity's MastCam and all that was finally compiled into a video.

Here go two more clips based on the same technique:
- Yellowknife Bay / Gale Crater (Sols 133/137)
- Southern Flank of Husband Hill, Mars (sols 672-677)

Credits for these impressive videos go to user sittingduck who posted about this earlier on Unmanned Spaceflight, a quite engaged community that documents Curiosity's activities in much detail on a sol-to-sol basis.

So no anomalies this time (at least none that I'm aware of), but perhaps you'll still enjoy these nice flyovers as much as I did!



Source & Links:
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01. Related YouTube clips with MastCam image projection
02. Unmanned Spaceflight: MSL/Curiosity Mission Board

a reply to: jeep3r

That's pretty amazing

Great video thanks for sharing! And while I'm here maybe someone can answer my question. Why didn't they put video cameras on the rovers?

Very cool!

Things I saw in video of the Martian surface:

- half of a ufo sticking out of the hillside
- 3 petrified trees
- a spaceship taking off in the distant background
- 2 partially buried pyramids
- an ancient pair of sandals (probably Jesus')

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I think one reason why they didn't include video capability in Curiosity's design is that the bandwidth needed for transmitting video streams would be much too high. The benefit of videos wouldn't justify the increased requirements for transmissions.

Another reason could be that they opted for a camera technology that has been put to the test in previous missions, so reliability was key. That may in fact also be the reason why Curiosity doesn't have a zoom function for its MastCam. It seems that some compromises had to be made...

a reply to: jeep3r

They used the music from the computer game Diablo 2 (from Act 2 in the desert).

Cool vid, thanks for sharing!

Those are just rocks.

a reply to: jeep3r

It's very underwhelming, we're looking at the surface another planet (supposedly), yet it could be any rocky desert here on Earth

originally posted by: jeep3r
a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I think one reason why they didn't include video capability in Curiosity's design is that the bandwidth needed for transmitting video streams would be much too high. The benefit of videos wouldn't justify the increased requirements for transmissions.

Another reason could be that they opted for a camera technology that has been put to the test in previous missions, so reliability was key. That may in fact also be the reason why Curiosity doesn't have a zoom function for its MastCam. It seems that some compromises had to be made...

Your reply makes sense i did think that video cameras might cause problems when sending back images/videos

originally posted by: Discotech
It's very underwhelming, we're looking at the surface another planet (supposedly), yet it could be any rocky desert here on Earth

Pretty much just a rocky depression in the ground. I suppose it's nice to have the knowledge of what the surface of Mars looks like, but it's knowledge of lifeless desolation. Only thrilling to a select few.

I call hoax. A left wing hoax. Or Donald Trump.

I call hoax. A left wing hoax. Or Donald Trump.

originally posted by: six67seven
Very cool!

Things I saw in video of the Martian surface:

- half of a ufo sticking out of the hillside
- 3 petrified trees
- a spaceship taking off in the distant background
- 2 partially buried pyramids
- an ancient pair of sandals (probably Jesus')

Huh? You mean a bit like in this scenario:


Different rover, similar situation... it's been posted many times but I just couldn't resist!

These types of videos are probably as good as it gets until we have boots on the ground there. And what a day/sol that will be! S&F

a reply to: jeep3r

Wow! That is amazing. What a bleak place though. So bleak it's beautiful in its own way.

originally posted by: ThePeaceMaker

originally posted by: jeep3r
a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I think one reason why they didn't include video capability in Curiosity's design is that the bandwidth needed for transmitting video streams would be much too high. The benefit of videos wouldn't justify the increased requirements for transmissions.

Another reason could be that they opted for a camera technology that has been put to the test in previous missions, so reliability was key. That may in fact also be the reason why Curiosity doesn't have a zoom function for its MastCam. It seems that some compromises had to be made...

Your reply makes sense

i did think that video cameras might cause problems when sending back images/videos

Not only, theres no motion to capture with video. Except for time-lapse (sort of moving images) of dust devils, sunsets, combining images in panoramas reduces the need for a 'pan' or zoom shot by video.

Why send back 12oo frames when three will do?

a reply to: jeep3r

Photogrammetry is pretty cool stuff.
I use it every day.
Here is a 3d model of a tailings dam I assisted in having built.

I used the same technique for my 3D model; Photogrammetry. But all my pictures were taken by my drone.

why not equip the rovers with drones?

originally posted by: dan121212
why not equip the rovers with drones?

There are some being planned, but the atmosphere on Mars is so thin that it's kind of hard to just fly something around there.

a reply to: Blue Shift

yeah true, still worth a shot tho, i may be well off here but if a parachute can function perfectly in mars atmosphere to land the rover, surely a drone would work fine also