Re: 3D on Mars

[P3D John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After looking at some of the Web pages, it appears that much of the 
navigational planning and observation of the rover will be done using
the stereo imager on the lander, as described by Dan Shelley. The rover
also has imagers, described as the MFEX camera/laser assembly. There
are plans in the mission for the rover to produce an image of the lander.
MFEX does not appear to be described in detail anywhere that I could
find, however there is a photograph of this subassembly, with
labels that are hard to read, but which appear to indicate "left camera"
and "right camera". There are also two lasers, which I think would be
used in the "autonomous" stages of navigation in conjunction with the
onboard cameras.

So at least in principle, it appears that the rover (as well as the lander)
will have stereo imaging capability, but I'm not sure to what use they
intend to put it.

John R


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