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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has been augmented with the Mastcam-Z instrument which will be the rover’s most advanced set of “eyes” to explore the Red Planet.
With the sharp eyes they’ve given me, I will approach Mars with clarity like never before. My main camera, Mastcam-Z, will even allow me to see details that human eyes cannot see. https://t.co/vYMIKvM7ph pic.twitter.com/JrBKenviU4
– NASA Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) May 1, 2020
Mounted on Perseverance’s head are basically a set of 3D glasses, but nothing like the ones we use to watch a movie. The Mastercam-Z is the rover’s main camera that creates 3D images of the surrounding environment. This allows the vehicle to plan precision movements along the contours of Martian landscapes and even operate its robotic arm.
With Mastcam, perseverance will be able to perceive Mars in multiple wavelengths of light such as ultraviolet or infrared light that the human eye cannot see. It is one of the 23 cameras that the Perseverance Mars rover has been equipped with. The other cameras are meant to serve different purposes like navigation, observation, engineering, and more.
Except for a few new additions, the cameras are all upgraded versions of those equipped by the Curiosity rover. Even Curiosity has a Mastcam, but there is a key difference between the two instruments, the zoom.
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While Perseverance’s “head” looks the same as Curiosity’s “head”, the newer Mastcam can zoom and the “Z” should indicate exactly that. Mastcam-Z principal investigator Jim Bell of Arizona State University explained, “The original plan was for Curiosity to have a zoom camera that could extend to extreme wide angle like a spaghetti western view,” but it turned out be difficult to achieve before launch in 2011.
The stereo images taken by the Curiosity Mastcam are combined images taken by a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens. But, up to nine telescopic images are required in this combination, as the wide-angle lens captures more landscape in a single shot.
Perseverance Mastcam-Z will be able to adjust the zoom of both lenses to simply create a single 3D image that requires fewer images, in turn, less data.
On a side note, the Mastcam-Z really makes perseverance look like a Wall-E pirate.
The Perseverance Mars rover has a launch window scheduled between July 17 and August 5. After being launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the rover will land in Jezero Crater, after about seven months of traversing space on February 18. 2021.
SEE ALSO: NASA is Sending a Helicopter Developed by IIT Student Bob Balaram to Mars: Report
Image Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech
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