The overachieving NASA rovers that have crawled across the surface of Mars are finally viewable on the big [really big] screen.  Distributed by Walt Disney with sponsorship from Lockheed Martin, the IMAX film is certain to be impressive.

Quoted from News.com:

"I've kind of had this picture of what Mars really looks like in my head for all this time, and for the first time on that IMAX screen, what I saw with my eyes matched my impressions of what it should really look like," Squyres said in an interview.

One reason it looks so real is that all the images in the film are based on pictures taken by the rovers' own cameras or from the scientific data they have collected.

"Every single scene you see is real data from the rover; it's just processed in different ways," Squyres said. "There is not a single fake shot of Mars."

Unfortunately, the confused crowd of commentators on that site has already risen against the film.  Robert declares: “This movie should be illegal…”  He bases his argument on the fact that public money was used to gather the footage and Disney may hold a copyright on the film.  Unfortunately, he’s just a bit too quick on the guns… Nowhere in the article does it suggest that Disney had exclusive rights to the raw footage.  Robert also forgets that Disney and Lockheed spent a good deal of resources distributing this piece of work. 

Rather than attacking the commercial use of public information, we should realize that without the effort of private companies, this data would never be distributed in a fashion comparable to an IMAX film.  And the IMAX films themselves are not without benefits:

In fact, these films are so inspiring that scientists and explorers have cited them for influencing their career choice. As NASA astronaut Susan Helms said of her decision to become an astronaut: "I first thought about it as an option for me in my 20s after seeing the IMAX movie, The Dream Is Alive."

For NASA, providing raw Mars footage for the development of an IMAX film probably feels like a contribution back to the scientific community.  Thank you NASA, Disney, and Lockheed.  This is a film I will gladly spend my money on.

W.S.