Yesterday NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released this video footage from the Curiosity's first year roving Mars, sped up and condensed down to two exciting minutes of scooping and driving. But hold off watching for just one second.Now, I’m not disputing that it’s great footage. I’m just saying that, like the red planet, it’s a bit dry. It's mostly silent, black and white driving punctuated by scooping.The black and white is understandable—the footage is from the Rover’s low mounted Hazard cameras, which are designed to keep the Rover out of trouble, not send back compelling images. Besides, who doesn’t love black and white? Some plebian? And if you don’t see the sublime beauty in the Rover pausing to observe a Martian sunset at 1:20, I just pity you, man.But the real problem here is that montages call for soundtracks. Silent black and white films had piano players, after all. Since NASA is busy cutting their budgets due to sequestration—plus they sent a will.iam track up with the Rover—so we’ll go ahead and take care of it on their behalf.So, the footage is 2 minutes, 15 seconds, which opens a lot of options. I’m fairly certain that how you think it should be soundtracked depends on how you want your Mars footage to feel. Try these different tracks out by clicking play and then whipping back up to the top. Or, there's a Spotify playlist at the bottom there. Just press play and loop the footage to your heart's content.If you’re NASA, you want something steady, uplifting and inspiring—I’m thinking this Chilly Gonzales piece:All well and good, but let’s say you’re pining for that early 50s charm—when space and indeed the whole future seemed bright and ripe to explore. Who better to turn to than the space age composers Perrey and Kingsley?Or you can sort of appreciate the workmanlike nature of the rover’s job. Just digging in the dirt, Sun up to Sun down, going down that lonesome road.Or if you don’t see Mars as that kind of desert, and you want to give it a Mos Eisely-esque exotic flair.Or if you’re into the idea of a robot that’s utterly alone, driving across Mars’s barren wasteland, that's what we have New Order for.Since it’s Rover’s birthday I’m partial to a laid back celebration of its accomplishments, via bigott. After all, what you’re watching is something doing exactly what it was designed to do. What bliss, right? Plus the Rover is a bit of a playboy, right?Feel free to suggest any other songs that are 2:15 long in the comments. Don’t forget to wish the Rover a happy anniversary on August 6.
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