NASA Mars Rover News 2017: 2020 Rover Will Have 23 Cameras
Extraterrestrial life will have a harder time hiding come 2020 when the next NASA Mars rover arrives with its massive array of 23 cameras. Some of the cameras will be improved versions of those found on the Curiosity rover along with some new additions.
According to the official Jet Propulsion Laboratory announcement, it's not just about mounting the most cameras on the rover – each and every one of them has a purpose. Many of the cameras are based on the Curiosity and this rover is shaping up to be a revamped version of its predecessor.
The 2020 NASA Mars rover will obviously take more pictures only this time, with higher resolutions, and from more angles than any past rover. There are also specialized cameras for recording and analyzing the Martian landscape including the atmosphere and the terrain. Everything will begin as soon as the rover lands which is expected to be similar to Curiosity's breathtaking act back in 2012.
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In addition to the rover's on-board cameras, there will also be six entry, descent, and landing cameras on the rover to help NASA record every moment of the rover's arrival. This is to capture the close-up images of a parachute opening over an alien world.
The rover will be built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It represents a steady progression since Pathfinder which only had five cameras during its trip to Mars. Its successors, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, were designed with 10 cameras each, including on their landers. Finally, there's Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover went to Mars carrying 17 cameras.
There is a challenge that comes with equipping the rover with this many eyes, chief among them involves data. More cameras mean more data through space. To address this, the rover will be equipped with an on-board computer to compress data and allow more 3-D imaging, color, and even high-speed video.
"We were expecting to do that mission on just tens of megabits each Mars day, or sol," said JPL's Justin Maki. "When we got that first Odyssey overflight, and we had about 100 megabits per sol, we realized it was a whole new ballgame."
