Dataset Information

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

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Malin MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5652233 | biostudies-other | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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

Malin Michal C MC Ravine Michael A MA Caplinger Michael A MA Tony Ghaemi F F Schaffner Jacob A JA Maki Justin N JN Bell James F JF Cameron James F JF Dietrich William E WE Edgett Kenneth S KS Edwards Laurence J LJ Garvin James B JB Hallet Bernard B Herkenhoff Kenneth E KE Heydari Ezat E Kah Linda C LC Lemmon Mark T MT Minitti Michelle E ME Olson Timothy S TS Parker Timothy J TJ Rowland Scott K SK Schieber Juergen J Sletten Ron R Sullivan Robert J RJ Sumner Dawn Y DY Aileen Yingst R R Duston Brian M BM McNair Sean S Jensen Elsa H EH

Earth and space science (Hoboken, N.J.) 20170819 8

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 f ...[more]

PMID: 29098171

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Project description:The NASA Perseverance rover Mast Camera Zoom (Mastcam-Z) system is a pair of zoomable, focusable, multi-spectral, and color charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras mounted on top of a 1.7 m Remote Sensing Mast, along with associated electronics and two calibration targets. The cameras contain identical optical assemblies that can range in focal length from 26 mm ( 25.5∘×19.1∘FOV ) to 110 mm ( 6.2∘×4.2∘FOV ) and will acquire data at pixel scales of 148-540 μm at a range of 2 m and 7.4-27 cm at 1 km. The cameras are mounted on the rover's mast with a stereo baseline of 24.3±0.1 cm and a toe-in angle of 1.17±0.03∘ (per camera). Each camera uses a Kodak KAI-2020 CCD with 1600×1200 active pixels and an 8 position filter wheel that contains an IR-cutoff filter for color imaging through the detectors' Bayer-pattern filters, a neutral density (ND) solar filter for imaging the sun, and 6 narrow-band geology filters (16 total filters). An associated Digital Electronics Assembly provides command data interfaces to the rover, 11-to-8 bit companding, and JPEG compression capabilities. Herein, we describe pre-flight calibration of the Mastcam-Z instrument and characterize its radiometric and geometric behavior. Between April 26 th and May 9 th , 2019, ∼45,000 images were acquired during stand-alone calibration at Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, CA. Additional data were acquired during Assembly Test and Launch Operations (ATLO) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Kennedy Space Center. Results of the radiometric calibration validate a 5% absolute radiometric accuracy when using camera state parameters investigated during testing. When observing using camera state parameters not interrogated during calibration (e.g., non-canonical zoom positions), we conservatively estimate the absolute uncertainty to be <10% . Image quality, measured via the amplitude of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) at Nyquist sampling (0.35 line pairs per pixel), shows MTFNyquist=0.26-0.50 across all zoom, focus, and filter positions, exceeding the >0.2 design requirement. We discuss lessons learned from calibration and suggest tactical strategies that will optimize the quality of science data acquired during operation at Mars. While most results matched expectations, some surprises were discovered, such as a strong wavelength and temperature dependence on the radiometric coefficients and a scene-dependent dynamic component to the zero-exposure bias frames. Calibration results and derived accuracies were validated using a Geoboard target consisting of well-characterized geologic samples.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11214-021-00795-x.

Dataset Information

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

Publications

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

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