The Mars 2020 Engineering Cameras and Microphone on the Perseverance Rover: A Next-Generation Imaging System for Mars Exploration

Abstract

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is equipped with a next-generation engineering camera imaging system that represents an upgrade over previous Mars rover missions. These upgrades will improve the operational capabilities of the rover with an emphasis on drive planning, robotic arm operation, instrument operations, sample caching activities, and documentation of key events during entry, descent, and landing (EDL). There are a total of 16 cameras in the Perseverance engineering imaging system, including 9 cameras for surface operations and 7 cameras for EDL documentation. There are 3 types of cameras designed for surface operations: Navigation cameras (Navcams, quantity 2), Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams, quantity 6), and Cachecam (quantity 1). The Navcams will acquire color stereo images of the surface with a $96^{\circ}\times 73^{\circ}$ 96 ∘ × 73 ∘ field of view at 0.33 mrad/pixel. The Hazcams will acquire color stereo images of the surface with a $136^{\circ}\times 102^{\circ}$ 136 ∘ × 102 ∘ at 0.46 mrad/pixel. The Cachecam, a new camera type, will acquire images of Martian material inside the sample tubes during caching operations at a spatial scale of 12.5 microns/pixel. There are 5 types of EDL documentation cameras: The Parachute Uplook Cameras (PUCs, quantity 3), the Descent stage Downlook Camera (DDC, quantity 1), the Rover Uplook Camera (RUC, quantity 1), the Rover Descent Camera (RDC, quantity 1), and the Lander Vision System (LVS) Camera (LCAM, quantity 1). The PUCs are mounted on the parachute support structure and will acquire video of the parachute deployment event as part of a system to characterize parachute performance. The DDC is attached to the descent stage and pointed downward, it will characterize vehicle dynamics by capturing video of the rover as it descends from the skycrane. The rover-mounted RUC, attached to the rover and looking upward, will capture similar video of the skycrane from the vantage point of the rover and will also acquire video of the descent stage flyaway event. The RDC, attached to the rover and looking downward, will document plume dynamics by imaging the Martian surface before, during, and after rover touchdown. The LCAM, mounted to the bottom of the rover chassis and pointed downward, will acquire $90^{\circ}\times 90^{\circ}$ 90 ∘ × 90 ∘ FOV images during the parachute descent phase of EDL as input to an onboard map localization by the Lander Vision System (LVS). The rover also carries a microphone, mounted externally on the rover chassis, to capture acoustic signatures during and after EDL. The Perseverance rover launched from Earth on July 30th, 2020, and touchdown on Mars is scheduled for February 18th, 2021.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mast Camera Zoom (Mastcam-Z) Multispectral, Stereoscopic Imaging Investigation

“…Similar support by the Mastcam instruments has augmented engineering camera (Hazcams and Navcams) observations on the MSL Curiosity rover as well (Maki et al 2012 ; Malin et al 2017 ). On Perseverance , the engineering cameras will have RGB color capability and the potential for higher spatial resolution than the engineering cameras on Curiosity (Maki et al 2020 ). Regardless, we anticipate that imaging from Mastcam-Z will be used to substantially enhance the information needed for rover driving or engineering-related decisions because its resolution and color capabilities still exceed those of the upgraded Perseverance engineering cameras.…”

“…By convention, the “left” cameras are on the left side of the bar as seen by a viewer standing behind the “head” of the RSM (corresponding to -Y in the rover navigation or RNAV coordinate frame). The left and right Mastcam-Z instruments stereo baseline is 24.4 cm (Hayes et al 2021 ), which will yield hyperstereo images for scientific and navigation purposes (for reference, the stereo separation or interpupillary distance between human eyes is ∼5 to 7 cm) and are inboard of the rover’s two Navigation Cameras (Maki et al 2020 ). Because of the heritage RSM design, the cameras are not spaced symmetrically about the RSM azimuth rotation axis; the left Mastcam-Z is ∼0.5 cm farther from the axis than the right Mastcam-Z (Fig.…”

“…Mastcam-Z will observe textural, mineralogical, structural, and morphologic details in rocks and fines at the rover’s field site in Jezero crater (Stack et al 2020 ). Imaging from Mastcam-Z and many of the 23 other cameras on the rover and its systems (Maki et al 2020 ) will permit the science team to constrain rock type (e.g., sedimentary vs. igneous) and texture, and to assemble a geologic history of the site from stratigraphic clues in outcrops and regolith. The Mastcam-Z cameras will also document dynamic processes and events via video ( e.g.…”

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the NASA Mars 2020 Rover: Body Unit and Combined System Tests

“…As requested by the SDT, it is essential to document the context (morphology, texture) of each chemistry and mineralogy observation, and to place them into the broader perspective given by the Navcam (Maki et al. 2020 , this journal) and Mastcam (Bell et al. 2020 , this journal) imagers.…”

Pre-Flight Calibration of the Mars 2020 Rover Mastcam Zoom (Mastcam-Z) Multispectral, Stereoscopic Imager

“…This is best accomplished by comparison to coincident NavCam measurements, whose optics are less susceptible to thermal effects (Maki et al. 2012 , 2020 ).…”