Virtual Voyage To Mars

As part of the planning for the Manned Mars Reference Mission for NASA, Bob Sauls and JF&A were commissioned to produce an animated simulation depicting the "Virtual Exploration of Mars". Bob used Modeler and Presenter to create all the models, visuals, and animations depicting the vehicles and habitats to be used in the exploration of Mars, ten years from now. The excerpts shown here are from Towards:MARS, a 7 minute animation showing the current Manned Mars Reference Mission for NASA. Many techniques were used to composite the final animations in order to create different visual effects. For instance: All flames are morphable objects with a QuickTime color map. After the flames were rendered they were composited with the original using an additive filter. This and other techniques can be found in Bob's Trade Secrets on this web site.

The Takeoff

10! 9! 8! 7!...	Blasting Off!	Separation From Auxiliary Boosters

Earth Orbit Operations

Payload Faring Separation	Docking with Upper Stage Booster	Transfer To a Higher Orbit

Sightseeing In Space

Passing the Shuttle and Hubble Telescope	Seeing the Space Station at Sunrise	Trans Mars Injection

Approaching Mars

Approaching Mars	Aerobraking at Mars	Entering the Martian Atmosphere

Mars Landing

Descending Through the Atmosphere	Final Landing Maneuvers	We've Landed

Setting Up the Base Camp

Martian Salute	Unloading Equipment	Inflating the Secondary Habitat

Securing the Inflatable Habitat	Positioning the Habs	Using the Rover to Explore Mars

Leaving Mars

Taking Off from Mars	Approaching the Power Module	Preparing to Link to the Power Module

Returning To Earth

Blasting Off for Earth	Approaching Earth	Entering Earth's Atmosphere