James Cameron Helps NASA Design 3D Camera For Mars Rover Curiosity

James Cameron certainly helped give 3D a huge boost in the box office with his record setting film Avatar. Avatar has gone on to break just about every record a film can break. Thanks to Cameron's 3D notoriety, he has been working with NASA to develop a new 3D camera that will be fitted to the next Mars rover.

The rover is called Avatar, Money, Curiosity and is set to launch in 2011. I hope that its launch fares better than the launch of that balloon I talked about this morning. Cameron feels that the public will better understand the Mars mission if the rover can capture 3D footage, plus it will make for great stock film for when the Na'vi take over Mars in Avatar 10.

The 3D camera was reportedly cut from the rover design previously due to budget concerns, but Cameron convinced NASA to include it. The 3D camera will be installed on the main mast aboard Curiosity. The real mission of the rover is to study the habitability of Mars and whether it can or did support any microbial life.