NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity has finally reached the Red Planet after its eight month, 354 million mile journey on August 6, 2012.

We’ve received our first few glimpses of Mars after the dramatic landing of the Curiosity last week. The first images of the Martian landscape were taken by two navigation cameras on the rover’s mast. Many people are surprised to find out the main cameras on the Curiosity are only 2MP with only 8GB of memory, Compared to most modern cell phones which house 8 to 12MP cameras, it would seem that the Curiosity is behind on the times.

c/o mars.jpl.nasa.gov

This left many people questioning, why would NASA take such a measly camera on their 2.5 billion dollar vacation to Mars? Camera project manager Mike Ravine explains, “These designs were proposed in 2004, and you don’t get to propose one specification and then go off and develop something else. 2MP with 8GB of flash [memory] didn’t sound too bad in 2004.” The cameras differ in the matter of their optics but are all built around the 2MP platform to ensure all the cameras were uniform and operating properly during testing.

In addition, it takes an exceptional amount of bandwidth to transfer the images back to Earth. The Curiosity is allotted 250 megabits of use per day which is shared among all of the devices on the rover, leaving minimal bandwidth for image transfer.

On the rover energy conservation and timing of the cameras are everything. The MARDI, or downward pointing camera had a two minute window for it to capture photos while descending on the planet. To ensure the MARDI accomplished its task the team selected a 720p HD camera which delivers a high frame rate without drawing too much power.

“We also looked at a 4 MP sensor but it would have run around half as fast. And the state of CMOS sensors wasn’t credible in 2004. They’re an interesting option now, but they weren’t then.” says Ravine.

Additionally, NASA was forced to cancel a zoom lens project for the Curiosity due to complications while manufacturing the system. The devices consumed too much power while introducing wet lubricants and heat to keep the lenses functioning properly in times of extreme cold and heat. Ravine planned to use 6.5-100m zoom lenses which they would have set to the same focal length to create 3D images.

NASA has begun to receive beautiful high-resolution color photos from the rover’s 34 millimeter Mastcam. Panoramic photos have been transmitted showing landscape images that are similar to the Earth’s deserts. The placement of rover’s cameras allow NASA to monitor the physical state of the Curiosity as well as its surroundings. The Curiosity is in excellent condition after landing, however it will have to endure violent sand storms and harsh climate changes that Mars is notorious for.

The Curiosity will live on Mars for one Martian year which is equivalent to about two Earth years. During this time the rover will perform many tests to see if the planet is, or ever has been, favorable for microbial life. Curiosity will begin testing in the upcoming weeks on soil and atmosphere samples.

Sources:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
http://www.nasa.gov