MER Imaging Node Mission Page

Data Release Calendar

MER

Atlas III Product Search

Select from MER

Atlas III Tutorial

Online Data Volumes

Spirit & Opportunity

Documentation

MER Documents

Photojournal

Images from
Spirit & Opportunity

Subscribe to the Data

PDS Subscription Service

About the Mission

Mission Home Page

Mission Overview

Solar System Exploration - Spirit

Solar System Exploration - Opportunity

About the Instruments

All Instruments

Mars Exploration Rover (MER)

NASA's twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers, launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. They landed on Mars January 3 and January 24 PST (January 4 and January 25 UTC). The Mars Exploration Rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.
Spirit and Opportunity have been exploring regions on opposite sides of Mars since January 2004. Originally designed to operate for three months, they have far exceeded their expected lifetimes and distances traveled. Each has found evidence of long-ago Martian environments where water was active and conditions may have been suitable for life. Opportunity found the strongest evidence yet that liquid water once existed on the surface of Mars. Scientists believe the rover's Meridiani Planum landing site "was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars." Spirit is exploring the Gusev Crater area on the opposite side of the planet. Before landing, the goal for each rover was to drive up to 40 meters (about 44 yards) in a single day, for a total of up to one 1 kilometer (about three-quarters of a mile). Both goals have been far exceeded!
Using images and spectra taken by the rovers, scientists and engineers command the vehicles to go to rock and soil targets of interest and evaluate their composition and their texture at microscopic scales. By the end of four years on Mars, Spirit had traveled more than 4 miles and Opportunity had driven more than 7 miles.
Rocks and soils are analyzed with a set of five instruments on each rover, and a special device called the rock abrasion tool is used to expose fresh rock surfaces for study. Each rover has a mass of nearly 180 kilograms (about 400 pounds).

MER Instruments
APXS – Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer

DESCAM – Descent Camera

HAZCAM – Hazard Avoidance Cameras

MB – Mössbauer spectroscopy

MI – Microscopic Imager

Mini-TES – Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer

NAVCAM – Navigation Cameras

PANCAM – Panoramic Camera

RSS – Radio Science

RAT – Rock Abrasion Tool

The Imaging Node archives DESCAM, HAZCAM, MI, NAVCAM, and PANCAM 'operations data.' The Geosciences Node, lead archiving node for MER, has information about archive responsibilities for 'operations data' for other instruments and 'science data' for all instruments. 'Operations data' are generated by MER Mission Operations and the individual instrument teams generate 'science data.'
The DESCAMs, HAZCAMs and NAVCAMs have the exact same optical design. Each is made of a detector head and an electronics box. The detector head houses a lens assembly and a Charge Coupled Device detector (CCD). The DESCAM and HAZCAMs use broadband visible filters, and the NAVCAMs use a combination of three filters to create a red bandpass filter. All produce 1024 x 1024 pixel images.
The DESCAM (sometimes referred to as EDLCAM) is mounted on the lander radar bracket and is pointed downward during lander descent. The camera is used to take images of Mars as the lander is descending.
Each MER has four HAZCAMs, two in the front and 2 in the rear. These cameras are used to take images of the landscape that help the rover avoid any obstacles.
There are two NAVCAMs on each rover located on the PANCAM Mast Assembly. These cameras are used to acquire images of the terrain and landscape on Mars, which can be used to help in the navigation of the rover.
The MI and the PANCAM are part of the ATHENA science payload.
The MI is a combination of a microscope and a CCD camera that provides extreme close-up views of rocks and solid examined by other instruments. The MI optics is fixed focus at f/15 and provide 3mm depth-of-field at 30 μm/pixel sampling.
The PANCAM is a multispectral, stereoscopic panoramic imaging system consisting of two high-resolution cameras mounted on a mast 1.5 meters above the Martian surface. The mast allows PANCAM to image the full 360 degrees in azimuth and approximately 90 degrees in elevation. Each PANCAM utilizes a 1024 x1024 pixel active imaging area frame transfer charge-coupled device (CCD) detector array.

Mission Documents