Mastcam-Z


Mastcam-Z is a multispectral, stereoscopic imaging instrument selected by NASA to be used on the Perseverance rover during the planned Mars 2020 mission. The Principal Investigator is Jim Bell of Arizona State University. The instrument will be built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California.

Objectives

There are three main science objectives:
Malin Space Science Systems will build Mastcam-Z and provide uplink planning services. It will consist of two zoom cameras mounted on the remote sensing mast of the Mars 2020 rover. The design draws heavily on that of the Mastcam camera used on the Mars Curiosity rover with some upgrades. It uses the same size, detectors, electronics interface, firmware, and operations protocols. It has improvement in lens assembly which gives it 3.6:1 zoom capability, whereas the zoom feature was removed from the final design in Curiosity. Each of the zoom cameras have broadband red/green/blue imaging and narrow-band visible/near-infrared color imaging. The sensor consists of an ON Semiconductor KAI-2020CM CCD with an array size of 1600 x 1200 pixels. It will be able to image with fields of view from ~ 5° to ~ 15°.

Education and public outreach

The Mastcam-Z science and engineering group teamed up with the Planetary Society of Pasadena, California, to provide public education and outreach. All raw Mastcam-Z images will be published to the web within minutes of downlink to Earth. The Planetary Society will maintain a website dedicated to instrument background, Mars science information for teachers and students, as well as Mars 2020 mission status updates.