Mastcam Camera

The mast camera on the Mars Science Laboratory will capture the Martian terrain in color photos and high-definition video. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Mast Camera, or Mastcam for short, will take color images and color video footage of the Martian terrain. The images can be stitched together to create panoramas of the landscape around the rover. Like the cameras on the Mars Exploration Rovers that landed on the red planet in 2004, the Mastcam design consists of two camera systems mounted on a mast extending upward from the Mars Science Laboratory rover deck (body). The Mastcam will be used to study the Martian landscape, rocks, and soils; to view frost and weather phenomena; and to support the driving and sampling operations of the rover.

New Capabilities

Several new features on the Mastcam distinguish it from previous rover cameras:

• One of the two Mastcam camera systems has a moderate-resolution lens, similar to the Pancam on the Mars Exploration Rovers. The other camera system has a high-resolution lens in order to study the landscape far from the rover.
  
  
• The Mastcam can take high-definition video at 10 frames per second.
  
  
• The Mastcam is designed to take single-exposure, color snapshots similar to those taken with a consumer digital camera on Earth. In addition, it has multiple filters for taking sets of monochromatic (single-color) images. These images are used to analyze patterns of light absorption in different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  
  
• Electronics on the Mastcam process images independently of the rover's central processing unit.
  
  
• The Mastcam has an internal data buffer for storing thousands of images or several hours of high-definition video footage for transmission to Earth.
  
  

Mastcam Electronics

A separate electronics box will allow the Mastcam to process images independently of the main rover computer system. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS