Video from Mars rocket launch

June 11, 2003 7:41 PM

Video of Nasa's Delta II rocket launch (RealVideo) The camera was mounted on the rocket facing down towards earth and the resulting footage is amazing. There's a Windows Media version at MSNBC.
posted by stevengarrity (21 comments total)

Very nice - better visibility than the film they did from the space shuttle last year.
posted by crunchburger at 8:20 PM on June 11, 2003

Hey thanks!
posted by Slimemonster at 8:26 PM on June 11, 2003

Watched this for the first time live on NASA TV, along with an hour's prelude of checking and cycling and gos and rogers and so on. It's amazing how many people it takes to get that thing up in the air, all sitting in some five or six control rooms. In the end, the launch was perhaps somewhat anticlimactic without the slow, rumbling, THX-powered skyward heave and the swelling background chorus you get in the movies...

Having seen the real thing, kudos to Cornell undergrad Dan Maas for the verisimilitude of his animation (video 3). Those who watched the whole thing live and didn't know what the "yo-yo" bit they mentioned at the end was all about should check the animation out and see--it's those weights on cables used to throw away the rotational energy from Stage 3.

This was the one thing that finally got me to install the dread RealPlayer on my computer. I'm pleased to report that on MacOS X it appears to be nowhere near as insidious as I remember it being on Windows, just in case anyone was putting it off for the same reason I was.
posted by tss at 9:16 PM on June 11, 2003

Sorry, make that (video 4).
posted by tss at 9:17 PM on June 11, 2003

Freakin' RAD! And thanks to tss for the animation links. Very cool, if perhaps a bit undersized. You know, given that this data is ours (the American people's) I wonder how to go about getting higher quality digital files from them NASA tightwads. Not to be greedy, but hey if I'm paying for it, I want the full-rez version! Thanks again.
posted by squirrel at 9:56 PM on June 11, 2003

I'm terrified of flying in an airplane, and have been since I was a toddler, but I'd hop on a rocket into orbit in less than a heartbeat. That video was thrilling to me. Thanks!
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:18 PM on June 11, 2003

The coolest was the effect of sunlight on the bolts just past the foreground. Watch as you finally notice the sunlight becoming less diffuse and more direct on the shadows the bolts project. Actually, the whole thing was breathtaking if even in a small realplayer window.

Fascinating mission in store as well. Let's hope all goes well.
posted by crasspastor at 10:34 PM on June 11, 2003

It seems that the thing to do with the launch was to have a video recorder taping NASA TV when it was happening live. While MER-A was coasting over the Atlantic, they replayed the full launch over and over, each time through a different camera and with title screens at the beginning. The sequence looked like it was made for news agencies to chop up into pieces for newscasts or what have you.

NASA TV is free to you if you have a big satellite dish. If you have a university in town, you might see if they put it on their campus cable TV system--mine does. Since there are two rovers, you have a second chance for recording with MER-B on or after 25 June.

As for hi-res versions of the animation--it could just be a size issue. Last summer, there was a ~100 MB high res version available at JPL internally--nice, but maybe too large for them to distribute.
posted by tss at 10:50 PM on June 11, 2003

Fab. Thanks.
posted by Dick Paris at 10:56 PM on June 11, 2003

[this is good]
posted by dg at 11:00 PM on June 11, 2003

The animation was great too. While watching the third video of the series (where the rover is exploring the surface of Mars) I could not help but wonder if I was not actually watching this.
posted by Dick Paris at 11:09 PM on June 11, 2003

Excellent link - thanks stevengarrity! Quite exciting to have a seat on board.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:16 PM on June 11, 2003

That was way cool. Thanks for the links, all.
posted by DyRE at 11:23 PM on June 11, 2003

Great stuff. Thanks very much for the link.
posted by dazed_one at 11:32 PM on June 11, 2003

NASA TV is also streamed to the web

I watched the launch this way - I'm also partipating in a related Lego robotics building contest. The fun never ends
posted by magullo at 3:26 AM on June 12, 2003

Call me a geek, but that was freakin' awesome! (Good thing my wife wasn't watching me watch this...) Thanks!
posted by tommyspoon at 5:54 AM on June 12, 2003

don't forget our first of two intrepid ambassadors to the red planet: biff starling. biff's a virtual lego astrobot on dvd.
posted by steef at 6:00 AM on June 12, 2003

Amazing. Thanks, stevengarrity!
posted by languagehat at 7:14 AM on June 12, 2003

Given all the stages as seen in the animation.. it would seem like a miracle it goes without incident. And even if it all works without a hitch.. the odds of it working TWICE without a hitch.. it's not wonder so few missions have arrived safely. All it takes is one firing bolt to misfire, one trajectory to be slightly off, one boulder to be in the wrong spot. There must be a better way.
posted by stbalbach at 7:19 AM on June 12, 2003

stbalbach, it's called a space elevator, but we're not going to see one during our lifetime (however, i'd give most of my apendages to work on such a project).
posted by NGnerd at 9:00 AM on June 12, 2003

A belated round of thanks to stevengarrity for the link. I love NASA. This is fantastic.
posted by swerve at 6:36 PM on June 13, 2003