NASA decided against plans to give Curiosity Mars rover a pair of 3D cameras since they do not have enough time test everything before Curiosity is set to launch to go to the red planet of Mars later in the year. Right now, Curiosity already has a pair of cameras made by Malin Space Science Systems, who were also working with James Cameron to come up with a suitable 3D lens model.

However, John Grotzinger of the Mars Science Laboratory project said, “With the Mastcam that was installed last year and the rover’s other instruments, Curiosity can accomplish its ambitious research goals… The possibility for a zoom-camera upgrade was very much worth pursuing, but time became too short for the levels of testing that would be needed for them to confidently replace the existing cameras”.

As it is constructed right now, Curiosity will be able to collect the rock and dirt samples, as well as send back valuable photos to earth.

James Cameron, Director of the hit movie Avatar, said that even though they weren’t able to get the work done in time for Curiosity to benefit from the 3D cameras, that he felt confident that future space missions would undoubtedly benefit from his work and the work of Malin Space Science Systems. His idea was to use the 3D cameras so people could sit at home, wear 3D glasses, and see what the spacecraft was seeing while it crawled around on the surface of Mars.