3D on Mars

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There's an issue that I've been unsure of regarding this mission, even after
reading some of the Web pages (several months ago). It's my understanding
that the *lander* and the *rover* (Sojourner) are two distinct machines.
The text that Dan Shelley posted on Thursday appears to refer to a stereo
imager mounted on the *lander*. But from the interview of Donna Shirley
that I heard on the radio, it certainly sounded like the immediate
navigational imagery (upon which the team will make the final decisions
regarding the course of the rover toward each target rock) will come from
stereo imagers mounted on the *rover*. That would seem to make sense, in
terms of being able to navigate in areas that are blocked from the field
of view of the lander. Navigational imagers wouldn't necessarily have to be
as sophisticated as the lander imagers that have been described.

Does anybody know for sure whether the *rover* has any optical imaging
capability, and if so what?

If I find out anything more, I'll post a followup.

John R


------------------------------