Navcam

Curiosity's self-portrait shows the deck of the rover as viewed from the NavCams.

Navcam, short for navigational camera, is a type of camera found on certain unmanned rovers or spacecraft used for navigation without interfering with scientific instruments.[1][2][3] Navcams typically take wide angle photographs that are used to plan the next moves of the vehicle[4] or object tracking.[1]

The Mars Curiosity rover has two pairs of black and white navigation cameras mounted on the mast to support ground navigation. The cameras have a 45 degree angle of view and use visible light to capture stereoscopic 3-D imagery.[5] These cameras, like those on the Mars Pathfinder missions support use of the ICER image compression format. European Space Agency Rosetta spacecraft uses single camera with 5 degree field of view and 12 bit 1024x1024px resolution allowing for visual tracking on each of spacecraft approaches to the asteroids and finally the comet.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Comet 67P/C-G in Rosetta's navigation camera". ESA. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  2. ↑ "The rover's "eyes" and other "senses"". Mars Exploration Rover Mission. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "How A Team Of Scientists Dropped A One-Ton Science Lab On Mars Completely Unscathed". The Business Insider. 17 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "More Driving And Imaging At 'Matijevic Hill'". Space Daily. November 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ First NavCam mosaic
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