The PanCam instrument for the ExoMars rover
Abstract
The scientific objectives of the ExoMars rover are designed to answer several key questions in the search for life on Mars. In particular, the unique subsurface drill will address some of these, such as the possible existence and stability of subsurface organics. PanCam will establish the surface geological and morphological context for the mission, working in collaboration with other context instruments. Here, we describe the PanCam scientific objectives in geology, atmospheric science, and 3-D vision. We discuss the design of PanCam, which includes a stereo pair of Wide Angle Cameras (WACs), each of which has an 11-position filter wheel and a High Resolution Camera (HRC) for high-resolution investigations of rock texture at a distance. The cameras and electronics are housed in an optical bench that provides the mechanical interface to the rover mast and a planetary protection barrier. The electronic interface is via the PanCam Interface Unit (PIU), and power conditioning is via a DC-DC converter. PanCam also includes a calibration target mounted on the rover deck for radiometric calibration, fiducial markers for geometric calibration, and a rover inspection mirror.
Citation
Coates , A , Jaumann , R , Griffiths , A , Leff , C , Schmitz , N , Josset , J-L , Paar , G , Gunn , M , Hauber , E , Cousins , C R , Cross , R , Grindrod , P , Bridges , J , Balme , M , Gupta , S , Crawford , I , Irwin , P , Stabbins , R , Tirsch , D , Vago , J , Theodorou , T , Caballo-Perucha , M , Osinski , G & The PanCam team 2017 , ' The PanCam instrument for the ExoMars rover ' , Astrobiology , vol. 17 , no. 6/7 . https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2016.1548
Publication
Astrobiology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1531-1074Type
Journal article
Rights
© A.J. Coates et al., and the PanCam Team, 2017; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
Description
The authors acknowledge support from the UK Space Agency (lead funding agency for PanCam) and STFC, DLR agency, Swiss Space Office (via PRODEX), Austrian agency.Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.