National Geographic and NASA have collaborated on an exclusive Mars AR Activation for National Geographic’s Instagram, allowing visitors to “become” the Perseverance rover in a brand-new interactive experience.
What’s Happening:
- The excitement of NASA’s Perseverance rover touching down on Mars continues with National Geographic’s new augmented reality (AR) experience on the @natgeo Instagram account.
- In what is another historical moment, National Geographic is offering users one of the first opportunities to be the Perseverance rover through this brand-new Mars AR activation, which offers an immersive 360 look at the panorama from the robot’s point of view (and even lets you take a selfie with the rover!).
- Through this new activation, Instagram users can expect to truly become one with the rover, seeing through its eyes, observing its first panorama, searching for ancient signs of life on the red planet, and operating its extremities.
- To increase the accuracy of the immersive experience, National Geographic collaborated with NASA on the Mars AR activation, consulting scientists and engineers who worked to design and build the rover, including Roger Weins (SUPERCAM), Christina Diaz (PIXL), and Jim Bell (Mastcam-Z).
- You can find this interactive (and the other AR filters) on Instagram:
- Open Instagram.
- Swipe left on the home page to open the Instagram camera.
- Swipe right on the filters to Browse Effects, on the far right.
- Search Mars AR.
- This is National Geographic’s fourth Spark AR project. With others including the Spinosaurus, Climb Everest, and the World in 2070.
- The Mars AR activation follows the launch of National Geographic’s March issue, which explores our fascination with the red planet, and includes an incredible immersive experience, available online at the National Geographic space hub, natgeo.com/space.