From the press information PDF - this should be pretty interesting..
Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
During the final few minutes of Curiosity’s flight to the
surface of Mars, the Mars Descent Imager, or MARDI,
will record a full-color video of the ground below. This
will provide the Mars Science Laboratory team with information
about the landing site and its surroundings, to
aid interpretation of the rover’s ground-level views and
planning of initial drives. Hundreds of the images taken
by the camera will show features smaller than what can
be discerned in images taken from orbit.
The video will also give fans worldwide an unprecedented
sense of riding a spacecraft to a landing on Mars.
MARDI will record the video on its own 8-gigabyte flash
memory at about four frames per second and close to
1,600 by 1,200 pixels per frame. Thumbnails and a few
samples of full-resolution frames will be transmitted to
Earth in the first few days after landing. The nested set
of images from higher altitude to ground level will enable
pinpointing of Curiosity’s location. The pace of sending
the rest of the frames for full-resolution video will depend
on sharing priority with data from the rover’s other
investigations.
The full video — available first from the thumbnails in
YouTube-like resolution and later in full detail — will
begin with a glimpse of the heat shield falling away from
beneath the rover. The first views of the ground will
cover an area several kilometers (a few miles) across.
Successive frames taken as the vehicle descends will
close in and cover successively smaller areas. The video
will likely nod up and down to fairly large angles owing
to parachute-induced oscillations. Its roll clockwise and
counterclockwise will be smaller, as thrusters on the
descent stage control that motion. When the parachute
is jettisoned, the video will show large angular motions
as the descent vehicle maneuvers to avoid re-contacting
the back shell and parachute. Rocket engine vibration
may also be seen. A few seconds before landing, the
rover will be lowered on tethers beneath the descent
stage, and the video will show the relatively slow approach
to the surface. The final frames, after landing, will
cover a bath-towel-size patch of ground under the frontleft
corner of the rover
Good, not as bad as I first thought. Should make for some good video. I want this to work since the landing is straight out of a science fiction novel. Heck with the silly mission of finding life, I want the technology to be sound so we can invade and rule planets like Pandora in the near future.