Perseverance Rover Mastcam-Z Stories

The Planetary Society is an education and outreach partner for the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA's Perseverance rover. Former Planetary Society President Jim Bell is the instrument's principal investigator and Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts is the EPO lead.

Mastcam-Z is a color stereo camera system with a zoom capability never included on a Mars rover. It will produce stunning, 3-D images from the surface, and includes a range of filters carefully selected for geologic studies. The zoom capability will help in the planning of drives for the rover.

Mars 2020 rover rolls into final design and fabrication phase

NASA's next Mars rover is rolling off the drawing board and into its final design and fabrication phase, the agency announced today, during a televised event at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that highlighted some of the mission's technology.

Mars 2020 rover artist’s concept (no background)

Listen Up! Microphones to Fly to Mars

The Mars 2020 mission will carry microphones in its EDL package and its SuperCam instrument, which will enable us to finally hear the sounds of Mars. The Planetary Society has been trying to get microphones to Mars for 20 years and is ecstatic that these will fly.

Mastcam-Z Preliminary Design Review meeting, October 2015

Mastcam-Z has passed its Preliminary Design Review!

A panel of outside experts reviewed the design of the Mars 2020 rover's color cameras, and approved the progress of Mastcam-Z. It still exists only as an idea in the cloud, but it's one significant step closer to being sent to Mars.

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