Mars Rover Footage Compiled Into an Astonishing 4K Video That Reveals the Surface of the Planet

Elderfox Documentaries took photographic footage taken by various Mars space rovers and compiled them into an absolutely astonishing 4K rendered video that reveals the surface of Mars. The original photos used in this short but stunning documentary were from NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Cornell University and ASU.

Although the cameras are high quality, the rate at which the rovers can send data back to Earth is the biggest challenge. Curiosity can only send data directly back to Earth at 32 kilo-bits per second. Instead, when the rover can connect to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we get more favourable speeds of 2 Megabytes per second.

All this comes ahead of the highly anticipated landing of NASA’s well equipped Perseverance Rover. The launch took place on July 20, 2020, with the landing on Mars expected on February 18, 2021.

The Mars 2020/Perseverance rover is designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life. The mission will collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. It will also test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.

via Nerdist