As a special treat for today, I’ve assembled a montage of amazing video footage from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera and put it to music by the talented Nicholas Gunn (a fitting track from his Grand Canyon album.) These videos were CG constructed using stereo image data and topographical mapping information from the MRO, recreating what in effect is an accurate depiction of the terrain as if one were to fly over it at low altitude, say, via helicopter. The footage is fascinating, to say the least, and is the next best thing to being there.

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I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I did assembling it. (My thanks in advance to Mr. Gunn for not filing charges for the use of his music. It’s been a favorite CD of mine for years. I highly recommend it. ^_^ )

Image/animation credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. View the original hi-res movie clips here.