NASA released a 360-degree video from the surface of Mars Monday that lets viewers poke around the Martian surface.
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The feature is made possible by the camera onboard the Curiosity Mars Rover.
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Project uses Curiosity to assess ancient, potentially habitable environments and the significant changes the Martian environment has experienced over millions of years.
As you can see in the video, it’s totally out of this world. The video could be easily accessed on phone’s YouTube app to experience high quality view of Martian surface.
Curiosity captured the scene on December 18, using the Mastcam, on the 1,197th Martian day, also called a sol. The curiosity rover is equipped with 17 cameras, which are for navigation, hazard avoidance and scientific analysis.
Want to know what life is like on Mars? The dunes stretch for miles along the base of Mount Sharp and move three feet every Earth year due to Mar’s strong winds.
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The mission’s examination of the dunes field is the first close look at active sand dunes anywhere other than earth, NASA said. It was an exhilarating view, but the way it had been created – by stitching together lots of different photographs – meant the final video offered a odd, fishbowl-like picture. In 2012, similar images were released by NASA. The new version’s 360-degree image was a notable improvement on the previous version. However, the new images can be accessed on Facebook and YouTube unlike earlier images.
