Roving Mars

Exploring Mars on the IMAX big screen.

In its tight 45mins of footage, the documentary Roving Mars welds IMAX big-screen visuals with just enough factual information to entertain those with even a slight interest in the realm of science and space exploration. Detailing the 3 year 4,000 manpower NASA project to send two robot rovers to Mars with the mission of discovering among other things evidence of water on the lifeless world, Roving Mars draws the viewer into not only a tale of astounding engineering prowess, but the human passion behind it.

The rovers themselves – ‘Spirit’ and ‘Opportunity’ – are the main attractions of the show and we’re treated to a mixture of real footage and computer animation showing the planning, testing and launch of these machines into the far reaches of space.

If there’s one thing you’ll walk away with, it’s a sense of the sheer complexity of the project in design and execution. From making a parachute that will cushion the rovers landing without tearing into confetti when deployed at Mach-2, to orchestrating flawless remote controlled origami-like sequences of solar panel unfolding, there’s no doubt why CGI is interspersed with scenes of the ground crew on the edge of their seats, hovering between tears and heart attacks at any given moment.

The highlight of the film is easily the animated sequence of the rocket launch. Every stage is rendered beautifully on the colossal IMAX screen, from the initial liftoff to the final point of separation before the rover is left to coast along on its lonely 7 month journey to Mars. Without the staggering IMAX screen to support the visuals, the entertainment value might dim for some, but anyone with a penchant for space exploration will – like us – be left with enough questions after the feature to be on a mission of their own to hunt down more background on the achievements of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and their prized rovers.

One of thousands of stunning images sent to Earth courtesy of the Mars rover expedition

It’s hard to avoid painting these mechanical marvels in an almost human light. The team responsible for these robot geologists speaks of them with a fondness that’s infectious and comes through loud and clear in the movie. You’ll find yourself considering ‘Spirit’ and ‘Opportunity’ as pioneers of our solar system rather than glorified dune buggies with image recognition.

The kicker is that the mission - originally planned for only 90 days - has now lasted nearly 2 years. The rovers have managed to survive to send over 70,000 images of Mars back to Earth and to this day are still trundling about its surface, busy poking rocks with spectrometers, microscopes and rock abrasion tools.

Despite being a little light on hardcore science Roving Mars is well worth a look, if only to wander out of the cinema with a spark of amazement at just how sophositicated our probing into our astronomical backyard is.