Barnstorming Mars in 3D

Barnstorming Mars in 3D

news.discovery.com

It will be a very long time before we can afford to send humans to Mars, given the estimated cost of roughly $1 trillion for round trip fare.

But until then we can sit back and be armchair "virtual astronauts" thanks to our robotic emissaries that photomap the Red Planet. Combine those snapshots with powerful computer image processing -- and you're all but physically there!...

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British 3D animation guru Doug Ellison has created the most dramatic example to date. This is the first true visualization that makes me feel that I've really been to Mars. It is awesomely beautiful and mesmerizing. I could watch it over and over. It is vastly more enthralling than anything conjured up by Hollywood in science fiction films. Gustav Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War" from "The Planets" symphony thumps in my head every time I see this video. (Holst's Mars is often mistaken for the musical score from the film Star Wars.)

Incredible animation of a flyby of Mars !


news.discovery.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 17-3-2010 by Ir0nM0nkey]