Breakiron Animates Prototype for $325 Million NASA “Scout” Mission in Only Six Days

BREAKIRON Animation&Design today announced its role in depicting
the Arizona State University (ASU) proposal for NASA’s 2007 Scout
mission space project. ASU is currently one of four finalists in
mission design for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.

“Animating our spacecraft helped greatly in visualizing the
project,” said Laurie Leshin, ASU geologist and chemist and Mars
mission project lead. “When it comes to space exploration of any kind,
animation is extremely valuable in picturing and discussing elements
of a mission. Charlie Breakiron’s ability to accurately depict our
proposal is very important to us — we hope to continue our
collaboration in the future.”

ASU’s proposal — Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars
(SCIM) — involves a specialized craft that collects dust and gases
from Mars’ atmosphere prior to returning to Earth. Breakiron’s
animation demonstrates the design and operation of the craft, as well
as its “free-return trajectory.” Breakiron completed the project on a
compressed timeframe of only six days.

“I distilled 3-D elements from existing drawings and worked
closely with Laurie’s team for the detailing. I can increase the
animation’s complexity as needed,” said Breakiron, sole proprietor of
BREAKIRON Animation&Design. “Animating spaceship scenes for the
feature film Titan AE gave me a foundation for animating objects in
space.”

NASA makes its final selection in August 2003, and will launch one
or more Scout missions beginning in 2007 with budgets of up to $325
million per mission.

About BREAKIRON Animation&Design

Charlie Breakiron owns and operates BREAKIRON Animation&Design, a
sole proprietorship delivering high-end 3-D graphics and animation
using the top-performing Softimage animation solutions. Industry-savvy
and experienced, 14-year veteran Breakiron has served leading graphics
houses such as: Fox Animation Studios (feature film Titan AE); Quiet
Man in New York (AT&T, Disney); Janimation in Dallas (new Barney show,
K-Mart); Metropolitan Audio-Visual (Diamondback logo effects) and
more. Pixel Liberation Front (PLF) hired Breakiron for a cinematic
promoting the 3-D action/adventure game Medal of Honor. Breakiron
performs well under pressure — his high-quality work and outstanding
creativity are critical assets to any production team. For additional
information and samples, please visit http://www.breakiron.com.