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Posted by: Pando Oct 29 2008, 10:38 PM

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/five-years-on-mars-3963#tab-interactive

I wanted to mention that there is an upcoming show on National Geographic Channel on Sunday, Nov 2 at 8PM (in US) about Opportunity and Spirit, and it contains breathtaking vistas and animations of the rovers' travels to Victoria crater and in Gusev. They showed a preview, and it was absolutely stunning in HD.

There are some videos on the website as well:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/five-years-on-mars-3963#tab-Videos/05988_00

Folks - set your DVRs!!!

Posted by: djellison Oct 29 2008, 11:29 PM

Looks like some STUNNING work by Dan Maas once again.

Doug

Posted by: Hungry4info Oct 29 2008, 11:31 PM

O_O I really dislike watching TV.

But I must confess -- I think I may wish to see this.

Posted by: Stu Oct 29 2008, 11:48 PM

That looks frakking excellent!!!

Coming to the UK when..? (I don't have Sky... we don't have digital yet here in the Lakes... even my BBC2 picture looks like it comes from Voyager 2 sometimes...)

Posted by: tedstryk Oct 30 2008, 12:14 AM

Does it have reseau?

Posted by: Pando Oct 30 2008, 03:26 AM

Yup, I really liked the full-3d view of Victoria and Opportunity on the edge, with the capes fully rendered and the camera moving around. My jaw is still on the floor somewhere...

Posted by: mhoward Oct 30 2008, 03:33 AM

Man, I hope they sell an HD version of that online. I don't have HDTV or cable. The preview movies they have on the web page are enough the get my heart beating faster.

Posted by: Pando Oct 30 2008, 04:16 AM

Here's one of the images:



Sure enough, Dan is The Man:

Here are two trailers:
Opportunity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5sChMVz8v4&fmt=18
Spirit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rljneh_N9WI&fmt=18

Posted by: CosmicRocker Oct 30 2008, 06:03 AM

Thanks, Pando. I saw the commercials for the show a while back and meant to post a comment about it, but I was distracted from completing the task. Apparently, this is going to be an amazing show. The animations are awesome! I've programmed reminders in Outlook and my Google calendar.

Don't miss the Spirit animation of the http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/five-years-on-mars-3963?#tab-Videos/05989_00. I recall it being serious, but I didn't appreciate how serious it was at the time.
Even though the Youtube trailers were lower in quality, they were excellent introductions to the earlier adventures of the Rovers. I particularly enjoyed the way they played up the lucky Opportunity angle versus the Spirit underdog story.

Posted by: mhoward Oct 30 2008, 06:15 AM

As dramatic as that view of Opportunity is, I have to say... she was actually higher up than that.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marscat/2985425663/sizes/o/

And she certainly wasn't wasting her time checking out flotsam up there?

I still want the video, though.

Posted by: ustrax Oct 30 2008, 07:54 AM

Pando, a shame I say...a shame...

I am still drooling with the teasers of this VERY promising show about our TWO plucky ones, Opportunity and Spirit.
I know that Spirit is being presented as the underdog at NG, but here? At UMSF?
This is a show about TWO rovers so why would you post its announcement on an Opportunity thread?
Descrimination I say...descrimination...

Posted by: djellison Oct 30 2008, 08:21 AM

That shot of the top of Husband Hill, panning around to see Spirit on top , with home plate in the distance - that was a 'near unmanly moment'

Doug

Posted by: PhilCo126 Oct 30 2008, 02:07 PM

How it all started... with Pete theisinger: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZBLklsUys

Posted by: mhoward Oct 30 2008, 02:12 PM

Not to seem obsessed or anything (heaven forbid!), but here's an interesting view for comparison. Yes, she really was that far up there! And she used the MI on the rock in front of her, which I had forgotten about. Magnificent...

Posted by: Pando Oct 31 2008, 06:27 AM

Haha, I'd probably get _______ from Doug for crossposting

Posted by: PhilCo126 Oct 31 2008, 02:01 PM

Here's what Dr steve Squyres had to say to cS.com: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-103108a.html

Posted by: mars loon Nov 1 2008, 03:23 AM

This film looks to be a STUNNER in both visuals and commentary

Progarm repeats at 11 PM EDT Sun

That view above Husband Hill to McCool , HP and more was absolutely breathtaking. gives me a whole new perspective on the scene etched in my mind.

Like Tom, I have a completely new appreciation for the dramatic escape from Tarturus. Be sure to check out that animation and the others

Congratulations to Dan Maas !

ken

Posted by: CosmicRocker Nov 1 2008, 06:06 AM

No, no...I don't believe there is any bias anywhere against Spirit. I think the word "underdog" was used to emphasize the challenge Spirit faced once they realized she landed in the Gusev lake bed full of basalt. From the onset, Spirit had to head for the hills in a desperate effort to find rocks that had not been buried by the flooding basalts. The brief stop at Bonneville Crater only verified the significant depth of the basalt on the Gusev plains, and probably convinced everyone that if any significant science would be performed by this rover, it would be required to drive to the limits of its design envelope, and probably further. As we all know, Spirit met that challenge, climbed mountains, dug trenches, survived winters, and made wonderful discoveries to amaze us all. This dual mission has turned out to be an amazing experiment and accomplishment. It is difficult to find words to describe it.

Now, we wait on the edge of our seats to learn where Spirit will next be directed to explore in its domain, as Opportunity embarks on a truly epic journey, encouraged by its sister's previous accomplishments. Can life get any better than this?

I looked back to Salley's November 30, 2007 update to relive the event. It is covered in great detail as usual, but the energy budget concerns were not obvious to me at the time. But if you notice how quickly Spirit dove over the edge of Home Plate after extricating itself from Tartarus, it clearly was performed posthaste.

Posted by: tedstryk Nov 3 2008, 01:10 AM

Actually that is EST. I may watch it then if I am up (too much football on right now).

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Nov 3 2008, 02:13 AM

Watching it now. Really good.

Posted by: tedstryk Nov 3 2008, 02:24 AM

Yeah, Colts are ahead by four going with a minute to go in the half.

Edit: Make that up by one.

Posted by: ilbasso Nov 3 2008, 02:47 AM

Wow, that was a stunning show in high def! Hmmmm...my 42-inch plasma TV is really a monitor...maybe I'll make that my default Mars viewing station...

Anyway, kudos to National Geographic for an excellent show. It concentrated a lot on dramatizing the hardships that the rovers have had to endure - and interestingly, even had to ignore a few to fit within the hour time slot - but there was plenty of stopping to enjoy the view. The behind-the-scenes shots of the rover driving teams at JPL were great, too!

Posted by: dvandorn Nov 3 2008, 04:34 AM

Excellent, excellent piece. Brought us fully up to date with the entire mission. The biggest lack in existing documentaries on the MERs was that they focused on the landing and the primary mission, and in the case of the MERs, there has been so much more.

Of course, it *did* sort of violate the well-known UMSF axiom that dust devils don't clean rovers... I guess it's just too prosaic to talk about regular old wind gusts. There's a lot more drama in a dust devil.

But the CGI work by Maas is just outstanding. I thought I would weep when the point of view swiveled around Spirit sitting atop Husband Hill and the Inner Valley laid itself out, with Home Plate nestled at its far end. It was in all ways a visually perfect representation of the scene.

-the other Doug

Posted by: algorimancer Nov 3 2008, 08:57 PM

I enjoyed it, but felt that it skipped-over rather a lot of details, mostly jumping from one major position to another, ignoring most of the very interesting stuff seen enroute. Plus the nebula in the background of the full-mars shots was irritatingly unnecessary. Oh, and it skimmed past most of the science. Of course the program I'd have rather seen would have to be several hours longer. On the plus side, the animations were wonderfully well-done.

As I recall, they didn't exactly refer to dust devils cleaning Spirit, but rather showed videos of dust devils as a sign of increased winds followed by a reference to a gust of wind leaving the rover's panels clean; it may be I missed something more direct (wouldn't be the first time).

Posted by: dvandorn Nov 3 2008, 09:38 PM

They showed an animation of the cleaning event. Immediately after showing the real images of DDs tracking across the plain, they showed an animation that depicted the dust on Spirit being lifted off of it in a vortex-shaped wind. My feeling was that Maas was trying to make the movement of the dust raised off Spirit look like the movement of dust seen at the base of the DDs just displayed.

It wasn't a definitive statement that a DD cleaned Spirit, but it was highly suggestive of it.

-the other Doug

Posted by: CosmicRocker Nov 4 2008, 04:44 AM

I noticed that. While they verbally described the cleaning event as a being due to a wind gust, it was visually depicted as something that definitely appeared to be a vortex.

Posted by: tedstryk Nov 9 2008, 09:19 PM

I must confess that I took a snarky attitude to this because so many television programs on planetary exploration are, well, crap. At best, they show a recap of PR images from the first few weeks of a mission, and at worst they show images from the wrong mission and even of the wrong worlds, and I am left sitting there counting the factual errors.

This was nothing like it. It showed the rovers in a new light (true, some of the stuff is downloadable, but seeing it in a full-length TV broadcast and with a story line was special. ). The commentary, both from the interview and the narrator's script , was actually informative and interesting. I hope their upcoming program on the moon is as good. Wow!

Posted by: Enceladus75 Nov 10 2008, 04:11 AM

This sounds like an excellent documentary. I agree with tedstryk that much of what passes as a "documentary" on space exploration is crappy - using poor/cheap CGI effects, dated images from missions aeons ago, and even sometimes showing the wrong planets/moons! There are exceptions - one of the best being the BBC's superb 1999/2000 series "The Planets", but that was made almost a decade ago at this stage. National Geographic are a cut above most in quality, although their articles on space exploration in recent years are much skimpier than the really in-depth ones they did in the days of Apollo, Viking and Voyager.

I wonder when "Five Years on Mars" will be available in Ireland and the UK? Will it be on the Discovery Channel sometime soon?

And, since I'm a National Geographic subcriber, might there be an accompanying article on the Rovers coming soon in the magazine?

Posted by: mhoward Jan 8 2009, 02:09 AM

I finally got to see a (poor quality) recording of this. What can I say? Remarkable. The highlight for me was definitely the Spirit summit shot.

Posted by: OWW Jan 8 2009, 09:37 PM

So true. This week is 'space week' on national geographic channel. And yes, the 'Five Years on Mars' doc was excellent. The animations are fantastic and no factual errors. The other shows are, to put it kindly, 'less accurate'.

I just turned off my TV in disgust after this 'science show' told me Mercury had an oxygen atmosphere (no mention of the fact it's a near vacuum). Blurry ground-based images of the Moon and sickingly yellow-colorized Apollo footage was used to convince me that I was watching 'hot' Mercury.

Posted by: djellison Jan 8 2009, 11:35 PM

I spotted one error in one of Dans animations. Anyone else spot it (it's a fairly small one - on a wide shot, showing the route driven)

Doug

Posted by: Shaka Jan 8 2009, 11:46 PM

It was nice to see a flock of the rover drivers (though not Paolo ) getting their "15 minutes of fame". Their bald-faced enthusiasm for The World's Greatest Job will resonate with the seven to twelve year olds, and they are the audience that counts. They are the ones who will live out our fantasies, or not.
For UMSF'ers, TV documentaries are preaching to the choir, anyway.

Posted by: eoincampbell Jan 9 2009, 05:02 PM

Was Opportunity's egress not toward the outcrop?

Posted by: djellison Jan 9 2009, 05:12 PM

No - they got that bit right. It was the exit of Eagle crater that was the problem

Posted by: mhoward Jan 9 2009, 05:37 PM

Ha ha - you're right. They should have signed you on as a consultant, Doug.

I believe I already mentioned that the Burns Cliff approach isn't, strictly speaking, 100% accurate either. But both capture well the spirit (wrong rover) of the thing.

Posted by: djellison Jan 9 2009, 05:49 PM

For those still in the dark - Opportunity drove to the rim, turned 90 degrees left, drive about 5m, turned 90 degrees right to try and leave, and then got stuck. So they turned back around, back to the point where they turned left in the first place - straight on - and left. They had it leaving after going back to where it truned left, and then turning left again.

What it did is in green - what the movie suggested is beige. You would have to be a space geek beyond words to have spotted it


I have to say - the work the MER team did in getting animatable rover actions to Dan to be able to document things like the Tartarus escape was just BRILLIANT.

Posted by: eoincampbell Jan 9 2009, 06:44 PM

... The solar panels ever so slightly flapping in the breeze adds to this brilliance...
Also I've noticed some MER documentaries suggest the first pancam shots were taken AFTER the mast(s) were raised...
(awaits space geek points...)

Posted by: jamescanvin Jan 9 2009, 07:01 PM

Err, they were weren't they? Only one pair of Navcams were taken before the PMA was raised.

I feel like I'm really missing out, I'm gonna have to find a copy of this show.

James

Posted by: djellison Jan 9 2009, 07:20 PM

You're right James - just two Navcam shots before deployment.

And that episode has aired here on National Geographic - but is also available from P2P etc.

Posted by: dvandorn Jan 19 2009, 04:46 AM

I've had this program saved on my DVR since last November, and have watched it several times. But in late developments, I started planning to get an HDTV a few weeks ago, and while I needed to wait for my "extra" paycheck of the month to go get the HDTV, I went ahead and got an HD DVR from Comcast a week ago. (I feel gluttonous -- I have my old SD DVR in my bedroom now, and a brand-new HD DVR in my living room.)

I noticed that "Five Years on Mars" was being re-run in HD on the NatGeo HD offering here during this last week, so I recorded it, figuring I'd want to play it in HD as soon as I got the new TV.

Well, I got the new TV last night. Decent brand, 32" 720p LCD, which works for the room it's in, and which gets an outstanding picture. Also does very good surround sound without any separate speaker deployment.

As soon as I got the thing connected up (really easy to do with an HDMI cable), I started playing "Five Years"... in HD.

Oh.

My.

God.

I ran out of swear jars, guys.

If there's any way for you guys to catch some of this recent programming in HD, I highly, highly recommend it. (Also got to see the end of the Kaguya special on Nat Geo in HD this evening, BTW, shaking myself for not noticing it was on earlier. Also worth several swear jars. Seeing the Moon pass underneath as the Earth rises, in full HD... 'twas superb.)

-the other Doug

Posted by: PhilCo126 Jan 26 2009, 06:06 PM

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