The Cameras on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover
The rover's "eyes" and other "senses"
The Perseverance rover has several cameras focused on engineering and science tasks. Some help us land on Mars, while others serve as our “eyes” on the surface to drive around. We use others to do scientific observations and aid in the collection of samples.
Descent Imaging Cameras For Landing
Ever wonder what it would be like to have an "astronaut's" view of landing on Mars?
When the Curiosity rover landed on Mars, it recorded the descent and landing with its Mars Descent Imager or "MARDI" camera. The view was extremely valuable to engineers; it helped them understand what happens during one of the riskiest parts of the mission.
This camera recorded full-color video of Curiosity's journey through the atmosphere all the way down to the Martian surface. It gave the science team and rover drivers a glimpse of the landing and helped them identify Curiosity’s exact landing spot.
New Cameras for Landing
For the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, the engineering team added several cameras and a microphone to document entry, descent and landing in even greater detail. The cameras capture full-color video throughout the vehicle’s final descent to the Martian surface. Some of what the cameras see on the way down will help mission planners decide on the rover's first drives.
These new eyes and ears of Perseverance are assembled from easily available commercial hardware. The cameras and microphone are being flown as a "discretionary payload," which means it's an optional add-on that will be an asset, but is not required for the mission.
The Mars 2020 entry, descent and landing camera suite includes:
- Parachute "up look" cameras
Mounted on the backshell, looking upward at parachute deployment and inflation - Descent-stage "down look" camera
Mounted on the descent stage, looking downward at the rover as it is lowered during the skycrane maneuver - Rover "up look" camera
Mounted on the deck of the rover, looking upward at the descent stage during the skycrane maneuver and descent stage separation - Rover "down look" camera
Mounted beneath the rover, looking downward at the surface during landing
A First-Person View of Landing on Mars
In addition to providing engineering data, the cameras and microphone can be considered a "public engagement payload." They are likely to give us a good and dramatic sense of the ride down to the surface!Memorable videos depicting Curiosity’s "Seven Minutes of Terror" during its entry, descent and landing on Mars rover went viral online, but used computer-generated animations.
No one has ever seen a parachute opening in the Martian atmosphere, the rover being lowered down to the surface of Mars on a tether from its descent stage, the bridle between the two being cut, and the descent stage flying away after rover touchdown!
- What happens when the rover lands?
- How much sand and rock is blown into the atmosphere by the retro rockets?
- How does the landing system move as the rover nears the surface?
- How do the wheels and legs respond when the rover finally puts all its weight down on Mars?
These are some of the most informative observations that the cameras can provide for engineers in the business of landing spacecraft on Mars. Mars 2020 will give us all a front-row seat in a Mars landing for the first time in the history of space exploration.
Tech Specs
- Main Job Take pictures, looking up and down, during descent through Martian atmosphere.
- Location Mounted on the fore-port-side of the rover, pointing toward the ground.
Engineering Cameras
Mars 2020 uses a new generation of engineering cameras that build on the capabilities of past Mars rover cameras. These "enhanced” engineering cameras give much more detailed information, in color, about the terrain around the rover. They have various functions: they measure the ground around the rover for safe driving, check out the status of rover hardware, and support sample-gathering. Some help determine the best way to move closer to scientific targets.
"Enhanced" Engineering Cameras for Driving
The enhanced engineering cameras for driving help human operators on Earth drive the rover more precisely, and better target the movements of the arm, drill and other tools that get close to their targets. A much wider field-of-view gives the cameras a much better view of the rover itself. This is important for checking on the health of various rover parts and measuring changes in the amount of dust and sand that may accumulate on rover surfaces. The new cameras can also take pictures while the rover is moving.The enhanced engineering cameras share the same camera body, but use different lenses selected for each camera's specific task.
These Mars 2020 navigation camera, or Navcam, views show a pile of rocks taken from a distance of about 15 meters (about 50 feet) in the "Mars Yard" testing area at JPL. The pictures illustrate one way the camera data can be used to reveal the contours of a target from a distance. Such measurements give the rover and its team the knowledge they need to plan precise travel and arm movements.
Hazard Avoidance Cameras (HazCams):
Perseverance carries six newly developed Hazard Detection Cameras, called HazCams: four on the front and two on the rear of the rover body. HazCams detect hazards to the front and back pathways of the rover, such as large rocks, trenches, or sand dunes.Engineers also use the front HazCams to see where to move the robotic arm to take measurements, photos, and collect rock and soil samples.
When driving, the rover stops frequently to take new stereo images of the path ahead to evaluate potential hazards. The 3D views give Mars 2020 the ability to make its own decisions about where to drive without consulting on every move with the rover team on Earth.
Navigation Cameras (Navcams):
Two color stereo Navigation Cameras, called Navcams, help engineers navigate Perseverance safely, particularly when the rover operates autonomously, making its own navigation decisions without consulting controllers on Earth.Located up high on the rover's mast, these two cameras help engineers drive the rover around Mars. They can see an object as small as a golf ball from 82 feet (25 meters) away. Before Perseverance "drives blind,” the navigation cameras initially help ensure a safe path. Blind-drive mode occurs when engineers command the rover to drive a certain distance in a certain direction, and the rover's computer "brains" calculate distance from wheel rotations without looking or checking for wheel slippage.
New Camera to Record Sample Collection
CacheCam:
The "CacheCam" is a single camera that looks down at the top of the sample cache. It takes pictures of sampled materials and the sample tubes as they are being prepared for sealing and caching. This helps scientists “watch over” the samples as they are being obtained, and keeps a record of the entire process for each sample collected.
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Tech Specs
- Main Job To see down into the top of a sample tube after the sample is gathered; to take microscopic pictures of the top of the sample material before the tube is sealed.
- Location Inside the rover underbelly, at the top of the sample cache
The Science Cameras
Mastcam-Z
Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras that takes color images and video, three-dimensional stereo images, and has a powerful zoom lens. Like the Mastcam cameras on the Curiosity rover, Mastcam-Z on Mars 2020 consists of two duplicate camera systems mounted on the mast that stands up from the rover deck. The cameras are next to each other and point in the same direction, providing a 3-D view similar to what human eyes would see, only better. They also have a zoom function to see details of faraway targets.
SuperCam
SuperCam fires a laser at mineral targets that are beyond the reach of the rover’s robotic arm, and then analyzes the vaporized rock to reveal its elemental composition. Like the ChemCam on rover Curiosity, SuperCam fires laser pulses at pinpoint areas smaller than 1 millimeter from more than 20 feet (about 7 meters) away. Its camera and spectrometers then examine the rock's chemistry. It seeks organic compounds that could be related to past life on Mars. When the laser hits the rock, it creates plasma, which is an extremely hot gas made of free-floating ions and electrons. An onboard spectrograph records the spectrum of the plasma, which reveals the composition of the material.
PIXL
PIXL uses X-ray fluorescence to identify chemical elements in target spots as small as a grain of table salt. It has a Micro-Context Camera to provide images to correlate its elemental composition maps with visible characteristics of the target area.
SHERLOC
SHERLOC's main tools are spectrometers and a laser, but it also uses a macro camera to take extreme close-ups of the areas that are studied. This provides context so that scientists can see textures that might help tell the story of the environment in which the rock formed.
WATSON
The WATSON camera is one of the tools on the "arm" or turret at the end of Perseverance's robotic arm. It is almost identical to the MAHLI hand-lens camera on the Curiosity rover. WATSON captures the larger context images for the very detailed information that SHERLOC collects on Martian mineral targets. WATSON provides views of the fine-scale textures and structures in Martian rocks and the surface layer of rocky debris and dust. Since WATSON can be moved around on the robotic arm, it also provides other images of rover parts and geological targets that can be used by other arm-mounted instruments. For example, it can be pointed at the oxygen-making experiment MOXIE to help monitor how much dust accumulates around the inlet that lets in Martian air for the extraction of oxygen.
A calibration target for WATSON is attached to the front of the rover body. It contains a metric standardized bar graphic to help calibrate the instrument.
