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 ∘ × 73 ∘ field of view at 0.33 mrad/pixel. The Hazcams will acquire color stereo images of the surface with a 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 ∘ × 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.
ABSTRACT
Knowing precisely where a spacecraft lands on Mars is important for understanding the regional and local context, setting, and the offset between the inertial and cartographic frames. For the InSight spacecraft, the payload of geophysical and environmental sensors also particularly benefits from knowing exactly where the instruments are located. A ~30 cm/pixel image acquired from orbit after landing clearly resolves the lander and the large circular solar panels. This image was carefully georeferenced to a hierarchically generated and coregistered set of decreasing resolution orthoimages and digital elevation models to the established positive east, planetocentric coordinate system. The lander is located at 4.502384°N, 135.623447°E at an elevation of -2,613.426 m with respect to the geoid in Elysium Planitia. Instrument locations (and the magnetometer orientation) are derived by transforming from Instrument Deployment Arm, spacecraft mechanical, and site frames into the cartographic frame. A viewshed created from 1.5 m above the lander and the high-resolution orbital digital elevation model shows the lander is on a shallow regional slope down to the east that reveals crater rims on the east horizon ~400 m and 2.4 km away. A slope up to the north limits the horizon to about 50 m away where three rocks and an eolian bedform are visible on the rim of a degraded crater rim. Azimuths to rocks and craters identified in both surface panoramas and high-resolution orbital images reveal that north in the site frame and the cartographic frame are the same (within 1°).
ABSTRACT
The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft landed successfully on Mars and imaged the surface to characterize the surficial geology. Here we report on the geology and subsurface structure of the landing site to aid in situ geophysical investigations. InSight landed in a degraded impact crater in Elysium Planitia on a smooth sandy, granule- and pebble-rich surface with few rocks. Superposed impact craters are common and eolian bedforms are sparse. During landing, pulsed retrorockets modified the surface to reveal a near surface stratigraphy of surficial dust, over thin unconsolidated sand, underlain by a variable thickness duricrust, with poorly sorted, unconsolidated sand with rocks beneath. Impact, eolian, and mass wasting processes have dominantly modified the surface. Surface observations are consistent with expectations made from remote sensing data prior to landing indicating a surface composed of an impact-fragmented regolith overlying basaltic lava flows.
