Commanding ExoMars cameras

As part of a recent system verification test, the camera suite onboard the replica ExoMars rover was commanded to capture images via the Rover Operations Control Centre.

PanCam, the instrument containing the rover's scientific eyes, sits about 2 m above surface level, and will provide panoramic views of the martian landscape around the rover with two Wide Angle Cameras, along with High Resolution Camera images of the surface. The High Resolution Camera can also, along with CLUPI, image samples collected by the rover’s unique drill, before they enter into the onboard laboratory. An example of an image of a ‘dummy’ sample on the rover’s sample tray is shown in the bottom inset image.

Towards the front of the rover in the main view, in the direction in which the rover is ‘looking’, is the PanCam calibration target, which will play an essential role in calibrating colour images and data from the infrared spectrometer (ISEM). This calibration target is also seen close to the centre of the middle inset image, from the perspective of the rover cameras.

Three fiducial markers located around the rover deck, forming two right angled triangles, will allow in situ geometric calibration and triangulation to get 3D shapes right. One of these markers can be just made out in the top inset image on the very edge of the rover.

The black and white images shown here from the High Resolution Camera are not fully representative of the flight model – the ‘real’ rover has a different filter and focus mechanism – but were taken as part of the first test campaign using commands directly from the operations centre.