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James Cameron To Develop 3-D Camera For Mars Rover
Hugh Pickens writes "Computerworld reports that movie director James Cameron, of Avatar and Titanic fame, is working with Malin Space Science Systems Inc. to build an updated 3-D camera that will be installed on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity if completed in time, to be the machine's 'science-imaging workhorse,' says Michael Malin, who is working on the camera team. Malin delivered two cameras to be installed on the rover's main mast; however NASA has provided Malin with funding to work with Cameron to build alternatives to these two cameras. '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,' he says. 'With the zoom [cameras], we'll be able to take cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface of Mars.'"
What's the narrative you're using?
I'm taking bets on how long it takes NASA to discover blue aliens on Mars.
"The knee is the elbow of the leg." -- My wife
I don't see why James Cameron's involvement is necessary. Stereoscopic imaging is pretty simple technology, and it's not like James Cameron invented it. What's so hard about turning a fixed-focal-length stereo camera into one that has zoom lenses? And why would you employ a film director, rather than an optical engineer to do it?
... and then they built the supercollider.
James Cameron -> The Terminator -> Arnold Swarchenegger -> Total Recall -> Get Your Ass to Mars!!!
Malin used to work at Pixar. He's the absolute right person to do this. He doesn't really need Cameron, just give him the assignment.
What bothers me about this, though, is that this science project has to pander to the public with eye-candy. Because we can't sell them on the science. I think this says something about our national lack of education, and something about the public having become a massively parallel knee-jerk driven by the lies fed to them daily on Fox TV and the trash TV that is more important to them than mankind's future.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
This will satisfy the burning need for three dimensional movies of stationary martian rocks.
Who else is going to be able to fake the Mars landing?
'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
...and make sure that they steal it rather than pay for it. That way, it will work with their hardware.
The Internet has given stupid people the resources of intelligent people.
Several people got modded up for questioning why Cameron was "hired" or "designing" the rig. He's not been hired and no one said he's designing anything. He's promoting the idea with NASA to help get people more excited about space. The Mars rover shots did more to get people excited about space than anything since the Moon landing. He's also going to be advising the team but that's legitimate given how much experience he has with 3D camera rigs, it goes back to Terminator 3D, I worked on it and he does know the subject. He also knows the best people in the field for helping them design the rig and software so he can make contacts for them. It's a growing field but 10 years ago the experts were on a very short list. I worked on several 3D productions and you always used to see a lot of the same faces. He's offering free help and he's better informed than most people here seem to give him credit for. Avatar has the best 3D ever and his pushing to make it the best was the reason why. Focusing strictly on hard science is a great way to drive people away. Also 3D images have technical value. Ever try to drive a car with one eye closed? In the future when rovers travel faster and further stereo vision systems will become more important. Now is a good time to develop the technology. Good on Jim for diving in. NASA needs all the help it can get if they are to have any hope of hanging onto their budget as money tightens up.
The negative comments on Slashdot are really getting depressing to read. From Cameron's biography at IMDB:
James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University.
So yeah, I think he can do trigonometry. He might actually be smarter than you. Give the guy a break.
planet texture maps and more
Actually he probably does.
He is extremely well read on physics. He did develop a lot of the technology himself.
I heard he grinds the lenses himself. By hand. He also wrote an optimized implementation of MLT over dinner one night. In perl.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Look, if you are going to fake a landing on Mars, who would you want to be making the movie of it for you?
Jim Cameron optioned Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy "RED MARS", "BLUE MARS", and "GREEN MARS" many years ago. Everyone kind of thought Jim might have given the project up. This probably means it is now full-on after the Pandora sequels.
Placing better 3D cameras on Rover "Curiosity" provides Jim's production company with early access to footage that can be better matched to in-studio green screen sets, especially because the height of the deployed rover camera mast is approximately the average height of a human.
Now there is an interesting problem here: If Jim's company wins exclusive first-use access to the new NASA 3D Mars Rover footage for commercial exploitation in a motion picture, the NASA Rover budget would look to the EU and the FIAPF to be an unfair government subsidy trade advantage towards the production of a US motion picture, and they may then issue trade sanctions to protect the EU movie production business from US productions.
To avoid this, Jim might consider incorporating the trilogy's production company on MARS, so that trade sanctions would need to be legally filed at the office to be located at Utopia Planitia, or wherever "Curiousity" first lands on Mars. The other obvious advantage of this legal move is in preventing unwarranted tax levies and tariffs on box-office revenues reported to Mars, since there are no existing interplanetary trade laws, yet.
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