Stunning video shows Curiosity's descent to Mars

Stunning video shows Curiosity’s descent to Mars

By Deborah Netburn

Aug. 27, 2012 12 AM PT

&lt;p&gt;You may have seen video of &lt;runtime:topic id="EVSAT00015"&gt;Curiosity&lt;/runtime:topic&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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Never underestimate the importance of a soundtrack!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consider it the Mars Curiosity descent post-production video. It’s like the &lt;a href="https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videos/index.cfm?v=81"&gt;original&lt;/a&gt;, but better.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The video was put together by Dominic Muller, known on Reddit as Godd2, &lt;a href="https://io9.com/5938006/this-is-hands-down-the-most-breathtaking-version-of-curiositys-descent-weve-seen-yet"&gt;reports&lt;/a&gt;&nbsp;iO9.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the video’s&nbsp;YouTube&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJgeoHBQpFQ&amp;feature=plcp"&gt;page&lt;/a&gt;&nbsp;Muller explains that he used an editing technique called frame interpolation, which allowed him to take the original choppy video released by&nbsp;NASA&nbsp;and smooth it out. He writes that it took him four straight days to put it together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can find a thorough and technical&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/yux4s/i_just_spent_the_last_four_days_straight/c5z2wlw"&gt;explanation&lt;/a&gt;&nbsp;of how Muller made this video on Reddit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or you can just watch this over and over again and think about how awesome Mars looks.&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As one commenter wrote, “It’s weird that we’re looking at another world."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ALSO:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tracking-tropical-storm-isaac-with-google-maps-20120827,0,3143617.story"&gt;Tracking Isaac with Google’s crisis map&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-nasa-nexus-one-satellite-20120827,0,7812569.story"&gt;NASA to launch Android-powered nanosatellites&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-martian-watches-20120825,0,2172017.story"&gt;Irvine company seeks funding for first voice-command watch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow Deborah Netburn on&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/DeborahNetburn"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;&nbsp;or&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109675776633752908527/posts"&gt;Google+&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Deborah Netburn

Deborah Netburn covers faith, spirituality and joy for the Los Angeles Times. She started at The Times in 2006 and has worked across a wide range of sections including entertainment, home and garden, national news, technology and science.

Stunning video shows Curiosity’s descent to Mars

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