| Nasa has come up with the ultimate in adventure sports – hang-gliding on Mars. And you can try it yourself in total safety because soaring over the Martian surface is purely a virtual experience.
The craft’s high-resolution camera, HiRISE, imaged the landing sites of the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity for many different angles. That gave them the detailed, three-dimensional information to create artificial animations that create the illusion of flying around above the Martian surface. One of the animations sends you soaring over the spectacular, half-mile wide Victoria Crater in Mars’ Meridiani Planum region. As you fly, you can see the rover Opportunity perched on the crater’s edge.
To view the animations, scroll down to “Other videos” on this page at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
