alt.hn

4/5/2026 at 11:28:12 AM

Virtual Mars Traverse: Every inch of Curiosity rover's path since 2012 landing

 https://www.rovers.land/

by bookofjoe

4/8/2026 at 7:15:28 PM

Please create an option to automatically move forward through time so you can see an animated version of the journey. And please get rid of the fade-in/fade-out transition when you switch images, it makes it harder to see the difference between shots.

It would also be nice to be able to move forward/backwards through photos keyboard (e.g. arrow keys).

There's also some sort of toggles on the map pane to different views (zoom levels?) but they're not labeled nor do they have any sort of tooltips so it's not very clear what they do.

by pimlottc

4/8/2026 at 7:41:21 PM

I came to say exactly this, keyboard navigation please and automatic playback!

by kelsolaar

4/8/2026 at 7:59:09 PM

Maybe a naive question, why doesn't this doesn't look like google street view?

Not OP's app in particular, but the underlying data from NASA. Nowadays the 360º cameras are $400 and work really well. Obviously we're working off of 2012 tech here.

But it seems like it would be enormously useful to have a full 3d image every 20 feet like google street view. Is this really just a power / bandwidth limitation?

by themanmaran

4/8/2026 at 6:25:37 PM

Cool but... I am pretty sure that it took photos that aren't close ups. All of those photos are all close up of rocks and I am sure it took some more wide angle shots too?

Or some showing the horizon at the very least.

I can't find any of those here as I work my way down the path.

by sgt

4/8/2026 at 5:50:01 PM

I don't think it's cool to hotlink every single raw image from NASAs server here.

by zokier

4/8/2026 at 7:59:57 PM

Generally yeah, but NASA seems to explicitly allow hot linking?

> NASA images may be used as graphic “hot links” to NASA websites, provided they are used within the guidelines above. https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/

As long as you don't "explicitly or implicitly convey NASA’s endorsement of commercial goods or services" and "NASA should be acknowledged as the source of the material" they seem fine with it.

Seems this project does miss that last part though, I don't see any mention of where the images are from.

by embedding-shape

4/8/2026 at 7:56:39 PM

I really don’t understand the lack of mobile access. Even requesting desktop site changes nothing.

You really can’t make what’s effectively a slideshow/streetview work on mobile?

I don’t care if it’s not as good on mobile, just that I can access it.

Seems like a cool idea, but not about to hop over to my desktop to check it out though.

by givinguflac

4/8/2026 at 4:00:32 PM

I find it so hard to figure out how close Curiosity is to the peak/ridge of Mt Sharp and whether/when it seems likely to cross over to the other side.

by raldi

4/8/2026 at 5:45:07 PM

Here is a map: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/

It's nowhere near the peak and is very unlikely to reach it.

by zokier

4/8/2026 at 6:00:22 PM

I’m aware of the map but I’m unclear on where the peak/ridge is.

by raldi

4/8/2026 at 6:11:48 PM

The main peak is under the letter "C" in the "Gale Crater" text on that map.

by zokier

4/8/2026 at 7:18:44 PM

Not one comment praising the existence of this site. Remarkable.

by bookofjoe

4/8/2026 at 4:13:09 PM

this is really cool but it's missing a lot of context... like... they're taking pictures of the ground beneath their feet. it would be a very autistic way to tell the story of a hobbit's journey without the context of what they're looking at and why.

this slideshow is missing a narrative. people normally travel and orient themselves by landmarks. their journeys are related amongst themselves by language surrounding common landmarks.

maybe the narrative for the rover isn't available

by engineer_22

4/8/2026 at 7:18:04 PM

I assume the different angles are different cameras mounted at different parts of the rover and used for different images? It would be nice to be able to select a particular camera and just follow the view from that, say.

by pimlottc