The latest exploration of Mars become an international hotpot. NASA landed the PERSEVERANCE ROVER on the surface of Mars on 18 February 2021. Wonderful and exciting images were sent back to Earth and the clarity and crispness of the images was a giant leap in comparison to the former expedition on Mars in 2013 by CURIOSITY ROVER.
Perseverance is an upgraded version of Curiosity. One of the upgrades was to use the 20MP CMOS sensor in the engineering cameras, the navigation and hazard detection eyes of the rover. This is the color version of the same monochrome chip that is used in our EMSIS XAROSA B20T camera. Thanks to the 20megapixels, these cameras can resolve greater detail than old model.
The CMOS sensor is a global shutter sensor. The rover moves around the surface of Mars largely autonomously using six hazard avoidance cameras (controllers on Earth can’t make real-time decisions to drive the rover because of the time delay in sending signals to and from Mars). All the data is acquired synchronously on a global shutter sensor, which is a benefit for any kind of autonomous driving algorithm.
The first colour image to be sent back by the hazard cameras on the Perseverance rover after its landing on Mars on 18 February.
