The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had just stepped up its efforts for its next Mars exploration. The next technology to grace the Red Planet had been recently announced in detail.
The agency revealed that the 2020 Mars rover, still unnamed, will explore Mars in July 2020. The rover, currently in the works at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will have 23 cameras and will be equipped with advanced technologies for better coverage. Mars 2020 will search the planet for signs of life and allow NASA to widely and closely study the environment and atmosphere.
"Each successive mission is able to utilize these improvements, with better performance and lower cost," Justin Maki, a JPL imaging scientist, said. These cameras were boasted to be better than the previous rovers, as brains behind the tech announced that the Mars 2020 would have better color and sharper vision. Mastcam-Z will be the main "eyes" of the rover, with "Z" standing for zoom.
The Mastcam-Z will be helpful in capturing 3-D images, perfect for geological features even from a long distance. This would be essential in studying the field or future research on the planet. The wider view will also save time, as the rover will not have to pan just to get good shots of the field and features. This development will also help get more stable shots of high resolution in 20 megapixels (MP) and full color.
Seven of the 23 cameras will be designated for the touchdown, particularly landing, entry, and descent, while 9 will be for engineering. The remaining seven will be science cameras.
The Mars 2020 will have 13 cameras more than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. The Spirit rover was declared nonfunctional in 2011, while Opportunity is still working to this day. Both reached the planet in 2004. The Curiosity rover only had 17 cameras and landed on the planet in August 2012.
