FLIGHT simulators on Earth, eat your hearts out. NASA has begun flying spectacular virtual sorties on Mars.
Using pairs of images of the same spots on the ground taken from different vantage points by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA has created 3D landscapes and virtual flyover animations. “This is close to what you’d see hang-gliding over the area,” says Randolph Kirk of the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona, who leads the 3D mapping team.
In one simulation, the team flew around and into the Victoria crater, the landing site of the Mars rover Opportunity. In another, they soared…
