ExoMars PanCam ‘small items’
The ExoMars rover’s Panoramic Camera (PanCam) includes ‘small items’ to aid the calibration and operation of the camera once on Mars.
In the foreground is the PanCam calibration target, comprising six 18 mm diameter coloured glass patches. The two 30 mm diameter white and multiband calibration patch will be used for calibration of the infrared spectrometer in addition to PanCam. The calibration set is mounted on the front of the rover deck in a region as clear as possible from sources of shadowing and stray light, and will be viewed by PanCam from an angle of about 23º from vertical.
Together with the calibration target, three ‘fiducial markers’ (back left) will form two right angle triangles on the rover deck to allow in situ geometric calibration.
At the back right of the transport plate is the ‘rover inspection mirror’, a 50 mm diameter convex spherical mirror that will allow the high resolution camera to monitor the drill spoil heap while drilling is taking place, as well as inspect the underside of the rover for diagnosis in the event of problems with uneven surfaces, for example. The mirror will also allow the PanCam to take ‘selfies’ of the rover.
The engineering models are shown here, mounted on their transport plate provided by Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK.
