James Cameron’s 3D Vision For Mars

James Cameron lobbies NASA to include 3-D “eyes” on the next-generation Mars rover, Whittier Daily News

“If the next generation rover is able to take high-resolution color movies in 3-D on Mars, it will be thanks to the reigning king of 3-D cinema himself, “Avatar” director James Cameron. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory scaled back its plans in 2007 to mount such a camera atop the rover Curiosity, set to launch in 2011, after that next flagship mission to Mars came in consistently over budget and behind schedule. But Cameron lobbied hard for inclusion of a 3-D camera for the mission, taking his concerns directly to NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a one-on-one meeting in January.”

Cameron’s Camera, Air & Space

“The camera is looking down at the Mars rover,” recalls Mike Ravine, who was in the meeting. “You can see the sample arm off to one side, and we pan up and see Mars in front of us. We’re rolling slowly along the surface. We pan back slowly so we see Mars going by, then look back at the tracks of the rover going off to the horizon behind us–in 3-D.” As Cameron talked, Ravine looked around at the faces of the gathered NASA officials, “and everybody in the room was nodding, clearly thinking, “Oh, yeah.”