Dropping in on Mars: A Rover’s Eye View

August 10, 2012
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Language
  • english

This movie from NASA's Curiosity rover shows all the "thumbnail" (low-resolution) frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown. The video, obtained on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT), covers the last two and a half minutes before touchdown in Gale Crater. Full resolution images will be returned to Earth over the next several months as Curiosity begins its scientific exploration of Mars.

The original image from MARDI has been geometrically corrected to look flat. The video plays at about four frames per second.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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