Mars 2020 will record a 3D video of its landing

The fifth NASA Mars rover, named "Mars 2020" will receive excellent technical equipment. Its main difference from its predecessors is a large number of cameras , there will be 23 of them at once. The cameras will allow fixing the whole process of landing the probe on the surface of the Red Planet.

“Those cameras that are installed on Curiosity allow you to get selfies and panoramic photos by gluing together the pictures. New lenses and cameras of the new rover make it possible to take such photos immediately, without gluing, ”said Colin McKinney from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The agency announced its intention to create a new generation rover back in 2012. This news was heard at the autumn meeting of the American Geographical Union in San Francisco.

The basis of the design of "Mars 2020" - a mobile platform Curiosity. Modified and modified, but still it is the basis of the former rover. This was done in order not to “reinvent the wheel” - the mobile platform of the previous vehicle showed itself just fine. It would take a lot of time and money to develop a base from scratch, and NASA could save money. By the way, the cost of Curiosity was about $ 2.5 billion, which is quite a lot, especially considering that the initial project was estimated at $ 800 million.
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But this applies only to the platform, the equipment is installed here is new. Two years after NASA announced a new rover, the agency received 58 proposals from researchers and engineers from around the world. Some of these proposals have been approved. Then the representatives of the rover team chose seven instruments.

The main purpose of the system is to search for traces of life in the past of Mars. 23 cameras will be installed for a reason: scientists are focusing on visual analysis. Seven cameras from the set - scientific instruments, nine serve as navigation systems, and another seven are specialized cameras that will record the descent of the rover, starting with the entry into the atmosphere and ending with contact with the Martian surface.

By the way, Curiosity is also well equipped, it has 17 cameras at once. "Spirit" and "Opportunity" only 10 cameras. Another important innovation is the presence of a microphone. Practically all the rovers that have been on the neighbor of the Earth before were “deaf”. "Mars 2020" finally "hears."



Rover package:

• Mastcam-Z is a universal system of two cameras with panoramic and stereoscopic display and a variable focal length lens. This scientific instrument will be able to determine the mineralogical composition of the Martian soil;
• SuperCam - a tool to determine the chemical and mineralogical composition of the soil of Mars. The same device allows detecting at a distance the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith;
• Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is an X-ray fluorimetric spectrometer combined with a high resolution thermal imager. It is needed in order to determine the composition of the Martian soil by rare elements. PIXL allows you to specify the elemental composition of the Martian soil - this could not be done before;
• Scanning Habitable Environments for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is an ultraviolet Raman spectrometer that allows you to get the smallest images in order to identify small-scale mineralogy and detect organic matter when present. SHERLOC - the first ultraviolet spectrometer on the surface of Mars;
• Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) - the newest experimental tool that will produce oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, consisting of carbon dioxide;
• Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) - a set of sensors that are designed to measure temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, dust size and shape;
• Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX) is a georadar that probes the geological structure of the subsoil with a resolution of just one centimeter.

The wheels of the rover will be better protected than the Curiosity, so that they are less destroyed by the impact of solid minerals found on the path of the rover.