NASA animators produced a new animation that beautifully illustrates the different stages of atmospheric entry, descent, and landing for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover then under development and recently named Curiosity.
MSL was scheduled to enter the Martian atmosphere in August 2012. [source] [source] [source]
Doug Ellison, a member of the team that produced the animation, explained to Universe Today that the scenes depicting the Martian surface were reconstructed entirely from images obtained by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. To illustrate MSL's scientific ability to analyze rocks and minerals after landing, imagery obtained in 2004 by the Opportunity rover was also used.
According to Ellison, one challenge in producing the animation was that no completed, real MSL rover existed at the time. The animators therefore had to construct a virtual MSL from something that had not yet physically been completed. Simplified AutoCAD models, together with photographs of MSL components under construction, were used to build the virtual rover shown in the animation. [source]
Ellison said that although this animation was designed by a different team from the group that produced the first similar animation about two years earlier, the new team drew on the previous team's experience rather than designing every stage from scratch. People involved in the earlier animation shared their experience and assisted the new team through different stages of production.
One of the team's goals was to show the dynamics and intensity of the events involved in landing on another planet in enough detail that team members could finally explain to their friends and families all those late arrivals home, early departures for work, and all the worrying!
For more information about the different stages of the rover's landing, see this article, which describes EDL (Entry, Descent, and Landing) in detail.