Eyes on Mars

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DVD details

DVD Reviews of Eyes on Mars

DVD Review: Mars on Earth
Summary: 5 Stars

DVD Review: OK, but for the Mars layman only
Summary: 3 Stars

This DVD did have a couple nice features, including one with a decent history of Mars exploration and another with expert commentary about the various characteristics of the red planet: dust, water, etc.

But I really wanted to see a lot of footage of the rovers going thru their paces during testing. I wanted to see the solar panels unfold; how the hazard avoidance system worked; how the camera color filters moved; etc. I also wanted more than just basic information about the entry, decent, and landing system - for example, there is a decent imager that measures horizontal speed. None of these details were covered.

There is a truly wonderful animation available on the MER website (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/video/) that shows launch, landing, and roving operations; but this 10 minute animation is rather poor quality in order to make it a reasonable download size. This animation *is* provided in pieces on the DVD along with a neat 'making of' feature, but the animation is not presented as a whole, which is unfortunate.

All in all, this DVD would probably satisfy (perhaps even overload) the Mars layman, but it is too sparse and disjointed for a Mars enthusiast.

General DVDs

• Genres > Documentary
• Science & Technology
• Space Exploration
• Educational > General
• Science & Technology
• Special Interests > General
• Miscellaneous