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Context for the ESA ExoMars rover: the Panoramic Camera (PanCam) instrument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2006

Andrew D. Griffiths
Affiliation:
UCL, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK e-mail: adg@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
Andrew J. Coates
Affiliation:
UCL, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK e-mail: adg@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
Ralf Jaumann
Affiliation:
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR), Institut für Planetenforschung, Rutherfordstrasse 2, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
Harald Michaelis
Affiliation:
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR), Institut für Planetenforschung, Rutherfordstrasse 2, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
Gerhard Paar
Affiliation:
Institute for Space Exploration, Jaquet-Droz 1, Case Postale CH-2007, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
David Barnes
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Wales, Penglais, Aberystwyth Ceredigion SY23 3DB, UK
Jean-Luc Josset
Affiliation:
Institute of Digital Image Processing, Joanneum Research, Wastiangasse 6, A-8010 Graz, Austria

Abstract

The recently approved ExoMars rover is the first element of the ESA Aurora programme and is scheduled to deliver the Pasteur exobiology payload to Mars by 2015. The 0.7 kg Panoramic Camera will provide multi-spectral stereo images with 65 ° field-of-view (1.1 mrad/pixel) and high-resolution (85 μrad/pixel) monoscopic ‘zoom’ images with 5 ° field-of-view. The stereo wide-angle cameras (WAC) are based on the Beagle 2 Stereo Camera System heritage (Griffiths et al. (2005). Planet. Space Sci. 53, 1466–1488). The Panoramic Camera instrument is designed to fulfil the digital terrain mapping requirements of the mission as well as to provide multi-spectral geological imaging, colour and stereo panoramic images, water vapour abundance and dust optical depth measurements. It can also be used for high-resolution imaging of inaccessible locations on crater walls and to observe retrieved subsurface samples before ingestion into the rest of the Pasteur payload.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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