Emily Lakdawalla • Nov 08, 2010
Fly over Mars
Adrian Lark has posted several new flights over gorgeous Martian landscapes to his Youtube channel. My favorite of his recent ones is this dive into Zumba crater:
Zumba Crater, Mars This animation of Zumba Crater on Mars was created using digital elevation models produced by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The camera is travelling at 100 meters per hour. The crater is approximately 600 m deep and 3 km in diameter.Video: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UA / Adrian Lark
But don't miss the other recently posted videos, flying around West Holden crater, Dunes in Herchel crater, and a Dune Avalanche. Adrian creates his animations from digital elevation models produced by the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, using a 3D engine that he wrote himself that actually generates the flythroughs in real time, just like in a video game. Here's an older video of his, of Candor Chasma.