Stunning video shows Curiosity’s descent to Mars

By Deborah Netburn

Aug. 27, 2012

12 AM

&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;You may have seen video of &amp;amp;lt;runtime:topic id="EVSAT00015"&amp;amp;gt;Curiosity&amp;amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;amp;gt;'s descent before, but you haven’t seen it like this -- with the craters on Mars rendered in high definition, the contrast amped up, and the whole thing set to a string score by Kevin Macleod that helps heighten the grandeur, and also the loneliness, of the rover’s descent to the red planet.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;(Never underestimate the importance of a soundtrack!)&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;Consider it the Mars Curiosity descent post-production video. It’s like the &amp;amp;lt;a href="https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videos/index.cfm?v=81"&amp;amp;gt;original&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;, but better.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;The video was put together by Dominic Muller, known on Reddit as Godd2, &amp;amp;lt;a href="https://io9.com/5938006/this-is-hands-down-the-most-breathtaking-version-of-curiositys-descent-weve-seen-yet"&amp;amp;gt;reports&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;iO9.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;On the video’s&amp;amp;nbsp;YouTube&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJgeoHBQpFQ&amp;amp;amp;feature=plcp"&amp;amp;gt;page&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;Muller explains that he used an editing technique called frame interpolation, which allowed him to take the original choppy video released by&amp;amp;nbsp;NASA&amp;amp;nbsp;and smooth it out. He writes that it took him four straight days to put it together.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;You can find a thorough and technical&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/yux4s/i_just_spent_the_last_four_days_straight/c5z2wlw"&amp;amp;gt;explanation&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;of how Muller made this video on Reddit.&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;Or you can just watch this over and over again and think about how awesome Mars looks.&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;As one commenter wrote, “It’s weird that we’re looking at another world."&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;strong&amp;amp;gt;ALSO:&amp;amp;lt;/strong&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tracking-tropical-storm-isaac-with-google-maps-20120827,0,3143617.story"&amp;amp;gt;Tracking Isaac with Google’s crisis map&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-nasa-nexus-one-satellite-20120827,0,7812569.story"&amp;amp;gt;NASA to launch Android-powered nanosatellites&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-martian-watches-20120825,0,2172017.story"&amp;amp;gt;Irvine company seeks funding for first voice-command watch&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;Follow Deborah Netburn on&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/DeborahNetburn"&amp;amp;gt;Twitter&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;or&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109675776633752908527/posts"&amp;amp;gt;Google+&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;

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Deborah Netburn

Deborah Netburn is a features writer at the Los Angeles Times. She joined the paper in 2006 and has covered entertainment, home and garden, national news, technology and most recently, science.