The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter wasn?t the only high-tech tool documenting Curiosity?s descent to the Red Planet. Curiosity itself actually took a series of photos recording its two and a half minute plunge to the surface, which NASA has released in stop-motion video form. NASA chose 297 shots from its "seven minutes of terror" to create the low-resolution one-minute video.
Besides the spectacular subject matter, there are a couple particularly cool things about this video. For one, the piece of the rover you see falling away in the opening shot is actually the heat shield detaching as the Mars Science Laboratory makes it safely through the planet?s atmosphere. Another: Around the 44-second mark it looks like a mass of dust starts shooting up around the rover?s camera. That?s debris displaced by the rocket-powered sky crane as it lowered Curiosity to the surface.
Eventually, NASA should receive better images from Curiosity and release a high-resolution version of the video.
See PM?s other Curiosity coverage:
Sol Zero: Curiosity?s First Day on Mars
Comeback Kid Curiosity: Symbol of a New NASA?
Live from JPL: Curiosity Lands on Mars!
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