NASA - Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover logo.
Feb 24, 2021
(Click on the image for enlarge)
Image above: This is the first 360-degree panorama taken by Mastcam-Z, a zoomable pair of cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The panorama was stitched together on Earth from 142 individual images taken on Sol 3, the third Martian day of the mission (Feb. 21, 2021). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU.
This is the first 360-degree panorama taken by Mastcam-Z, a zoomable pair of cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The panorama was stitched together on Earth from 142 individual images taken on Sol 3, the third Martian day of the mission (Feb. 21, 2021).
Annotated versions of this panorama include a scale bar and close-ups of rock features seen in the distance.
Image above: This wind-carved rock seen in first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument shows just how much detail is captured by the camera systems. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU.
A detail shot from the top of the panorama shows the rim of Jezero Crater, Perseverance’s landing site.
(Click on the image for enlarge)
Image above: This shows the rim of Jezero Crater as seen in the first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU.
Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
First images from Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z takes first 360-Degree Panorama
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.
For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020
Mars Perseverance Rover: http://www.nasa.gov/perseverance
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU/SciNews.
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