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(More customer reviews)The story is how two 400-pound wheeled robots far exceeded their design specifications and everyone's expectations to explore and make discoveries on that distant and hostile world known as Mars. They had worked on that planet for five years (and longer) when this film was released. Thanks to excellence in engineering and construction, expert guidance, and not a little ingenuity and luck, the two MERs (Mars Exploration Rovers) have delivered thousands of images and enough data to keep planetary scientists busy with journal articles for years. Our ideas of the true nature and history of Mars have been re-shaped. The successes of MERs "Spirit" and "Opportunity" in the areas of science and engineering are legion. The surprise is how emotionally invested we can become in the exploits and fates of two sophisticated hunks of machinery.
This film brings to the viewer the feeling that we are there, on Mars, hiking alongside those wonderful little machines as they struggle to survive sand traps, dust storms, and the incredibly cold Martian winters. The narration is fact-filled and interesting. Interviews with the principle scientists, engineers, and technicians are appropriate and impart the intensity of human involvement in the rovers' operation and their fates. Imagery is accurate and beautiful (though the speed of animated rover movement has been greatly increased for the sake of illustration). This film has shown a number of times on the National Geographic Channel and is as superb an example of a space science documentary as you will find. It is far superior to many current space science programs that emphasize incredible "what-ifs," explosions, repeated action sequences, and vapid narrative. This engrossing true life adventure of exploration and discovery shines bright. Those interested in space exploration, particularly that of the Red Planet, will enjoy viewing this film repeatedly and will want to add it to their collections. It is highly recommended.
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Five Years On Mars (2008)When the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity touched down on Mars in 2004, they weren\'t expected to last long—perhaps 90 days, or six months at most.But 90 days have stretched into almost five years, and a short-term science mission searching for evidence of water has turned into one of the greatest adventures of the Space Age.The rovers have trekked miles across hostile plains, climbed mountains, ventured in and out of deep craters, gotten stuck in sand dunes, survived dust storms and mechanical failures, and cheated death so often that no one will venture a guess as to how much longer they might last.Five Years on Mars follows this amazing story of two rovers that may be among some of the greatest explorers in history.
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