Take a Tour of Mars with NASA’s New 360-Degree Video

A new 360-degree video of Mars has been released allowing viewers to explore a whole new planet from the comfort of their smartphones.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has put together an interactive 360-degree tour of Mars. The video was created by stitching multiple images together to allow viewers to see a realistic view of the planet. Highlights of the tour include a view of the Namib Dune and a distant view of Mount Sharp.

The images were taken by NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover on the 1,197 sol (one Martian day) of the rover’s work on the planet. The purpose of the mission was to examine the dunes field. It “is the first close look at active sand dunes anywhere other than Earth,” NASA shared.

The Curiosity Mars Rover first landed on Mars in August 2012 with the mission to find out if Mars had been able to support life at some point. During a discovery last October, the rover found evidence that billions of years ago water was stored in lakes over “an extended period of time,” NASA shared. It also found that the planet had small increases of methane gas, possibly suggesting that something had made it.

NASA had released a 360-degree tour a few years ago, however technology was not as advanced, therefore discouraging users from getting the full experience.

While NASA doesn’t seem to be rushing to put people on Mars, some outside companies and entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, hope to take people to Mars in 10 to 12 years time. In the mean time, the 360-degree tour will have to fill the gap.

Check out the tour below. For the best view, check it out on a smartphone.