With each new Mars rover mission, NASA provides a 3D animation showing the public their latest journey to the red planet. The animation lets the viewers ride along with the rover as it starts out on the launch pad, traveling through space and then ending in a thrill ride landing in what engineers call the “6 minutes of terror”. The animation then continues showing the rover fully deployed onto the surface as it begins to probe, looking for signs of life.

Each new computer generated 3D animation NASA has provided shows improvements in quality as 3D software technology has progressed. It started with the Pathfinder rover in 1997 and continues today with their latest rover, Curiosity, set to launch this November. The latest curiosity animation certainly proves that the graphics are evolving as each new rover evolves. For those in computer animation, they will notice the improved effects such as better lighting and shadow, lens flares for the sun, fluid dynamics for smoke, particle effects for dirt and other additions that help bring the rovers to life. These videos are created at Maas Digital, LLC studio by Daniel Maas. He has been using Lightwave 3D to create the rover visuals. He custom builds all models and even his own plug-ins for effects.

“I created an excruciatingly-detailed digital model of the Mars rovers based on blueprints from NASA/JPL. The model includes virtually everything on the real rovers down to every last nut, bolt and wire,” says Daniel Maas.

It will be exciting to see what the next generation of computer animation brings. I wonder how good visuals will be when its people exploring Mars and not just rovers…

Image sources:
http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/projectVideo.cfm?Project=4&Video=85

http://www.universetoday.com/87069/dramatic-new-nasa-animation-depicts-next-mars-rover-in-action