James Cameron to bring 3D to Mars

"Forget your big blue men, Cameron - these little green men are much more exciting"
"Forget your big blue men, Cameron - these little green men are much more exciting"

James Cameron is continuing is plight to turn everything 3D by helping out NASA and equipping its Mars rover with a 3D camera.

Curiosity - the name of the vehicle which is set to travel to Mars - has a launch scheduled in 2011, but before it jets off the rover is going to get a camera makeover.

The people behind the rover's camera, Malin Space Science Systems, have enlisted the help of Cameron who turned Hollywood on to the idea of 3D with his mega-hit Avatar.

Cinematic 3D

Cameron will modify the existing cameras – which shoot HD – for 3D filing, using the technology he built from the ground up for Avatar.

Speaking about the link-up Michael Malin, from Malin Space Science Systems, said: "The fixed focal length [cameras] we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed.

"But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo. With the zoom [cameras], we'll be able to take cinematic video sequences in 3D on the surface of Mars. This will give our public engagement co-investigator, James Cameron, tools similar to those he used on his recent 3D motion picture projects."

If all goes well, expect 3D footage of Mars to hit Earth sometime in 2011.

Via Mashable and ComputerWorld

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.