Hazcams (short for hazard avoidance cameras) are

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

cameras A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

mounted on the front and rear of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's ''Spirit'', ''Opportunity'', ''Curiosity'' and ''Perseverance'' rover missions to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and on the lower front portion of Chinese ''Yutu'' rover mission to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Overview

The ''Curiosity'' rover's hazcams are sensitive to

visible light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm ...

and return black and white images of resolution 1024 × 1024

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

s."Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam)".
PDS Geosciences Node. Retrieved September 4, 2019. These images are used by the rovers' internal computer to autonomously navigate around hazards. Due to their positioning on both sides of the rovers, simultaneous images taken by either both front or both rear cameras can be used to produce a 3D map of the immediate surroundings. As the cameras are fixed (i.e. can not move independently of the rover), they have a wide

field of view The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors, it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to elec ...

(approximately 120° both horizontally and vertically) to allow a large amount of terrain to be visible. They are considered engineering cameras since they were not designed to be used for scientific experiments. The other set of engineering cameras on the rovers are the

navcam Navcam, short for navigational camera, is a type of camera found on certain robotic rovers or spacecraft used for navigation without interfering with scientific instruments. Navcams typically take wide angle photographs that are used to plan the ne ...

s. The safe landing of the

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...

was initially confirmed using the vehicle's hazcams. The Perseverance cameras are qualified to operate in temperatures at the poles of Mars and image correctly over a 100 °C (212 °F) temperature range.

References

External links

NASA page detailing the rovers' "senses"

Mars Exploration Rover Technical Data
{{Mars Mars Science Laboratory instruments Mars Exploration Rover mission Spacecraft instruments Mars imagers

Overview

See also

References

External links