The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mast cameras and Descent imager: Investigation and instrument descriptions

The Mars Science Laboratory Mast camera and Descent Imager investigations were designed, built, and operated by Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego, CA. They share common electronics and focal plane designs but have different optics. There are two Mastcams of dissimilar focal length. The Mastca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth and space science (Hoboken, N.J.) N.J.), 2017-08, Vol.4 (8), p.506-539
Main Authors: Malin, Michal C., Ravine, Michael A., Caplinger, Michael A., Tony Ghaemi, F., Schaffner, Jacob A., Maki, Justin N., Bell, James F., Cameron, James F., Dietrich, William E., Edgett, Kenneth S., Edwards, Laurence J., Garvin, James B., Hallet, Bernard, Herkenhoff, Kenneth E., Heydari, Ezat, Kah, Linda C., Lemmon, Mark T., Minitti, Michelle E., Olson, Timothy S., Parker, Timothy J., Rowland, Scott K., Schieber, Juergen, Sletten, Ron, Sullivan, Robert J., Sumner, Dawn Y., Aileen Yingst, R., Duston, Brian M., McNair, Sean, Jensen, Elsa H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calibration
Cameras
Color
Curiosity
Dust
General or Miscellaneous
History of Geophysics
Instruments and Techniques
Instruments Useful in Three or More Fields
Laboratories
MARDI
Mars
Mastcam
Mineralogy
MSL
Objectives
Optics
Particle size
Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects
Planetology
Planning
Remote sensing
Science
Scientists
Software
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Summary:The Mars Science Laboratory Mast camera and Descent Imager investigations were designed, built, and operated by Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego, CA. They share common electronics and focal plane designs but have different optics. There are two Mastcams of dissimilar focal length. The Mastcam‐34 has an f/8, 34 mm focal length lens, and the M‐100 an f/10, 100 mm focal length lens. The M‐34 field of view is about 20° × 15° with an instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of 218 μrad; the M‐100 field of view (FOV) is 6.8° × 5.1° with an IFOV of 74 μrad. The M‐34 can focus from 0.5 m to infinity, and the M‐100 from ~1.6 m to infinity. All three cameras can acquire color images through a Bayer color filter array, and the Mastcams can also acquire images through seven science filters. Images are ≤1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels tall. The Mastcams, mounted on the ~2 m tall Remote Sensing Mast, have a 360° azimuth and ~180° elevation field of regard. Mars Descent Imager is fixed‐mounted to the bottom left front side of the rover at ~66 cm above the surface. Its fixed focus lens is in focus from ~2 m to infinity, but out of focus at 66 cm. The f/3 lens has a FOV of ~70° by 52° across and along the direction of motion, with an IFOV of 0.76 mrad. All cameras can acquire video at 4 frames/second for full frames or 720p HD at 6 fps. Images can be processed using lossy Joint Photographic Experts Group and predictive lossless compression. Key Points The Mars Descent Imager, an f/3 9.7 mm, 2 M pixel color camera operated autonomously during landing taking a descent video at 4 frames/second Mastcam‐34 f/8, 34 mm camera takes
ISSN:2333-5084
2333-5084
DOI:10.1002/2016EA000252