JAMES CAMERON HELPING NASA DEVELOP 3D CAMERA FOR MARS ROVER

Avatar director James Cameron has been working with San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems to develop a 3D camera that can be mounted on the next Mars rover, Curiosity, according to the Pasadena Star-News. The newspaper said that Cameron “sold” the idea of such a system to NASA administrator Charles Bolden at a meeting in January. Cameron told the Star-News that he argued that developing a rover with a better set of eyes would help the public connect with the mission. “He actually was really open to the idea,” Cameron said. Joy Crisp, who heads the rover project at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, observed that the camera could also serve a significant scientific purpose. She noted that the 3D camera could “image clouds moving in the sky or a dust devil moving. … As you’re driving [the rover], you could take a movie.”