- Hazcam
:"Hazcam is also the trade name of a self contained camera, transmitter and battery pack designed for use around
hazardous material s and produced byPragmatic Communication Systems ."Hazcams (short for Hazard Avoidance Cameras) are
photograph iccameras mounted on the front and rear ofNASA 's Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars.The Hazcams are sensitive to
visible light and return black and white images of resolution 1024x1024pixel s. These images are used by the rovers' internal computer to autonomously navigate around hazards. Due to their positioning on both sides of the rovers, simultaneous images taken by either both front or both rear cameras can be used to produce a 3D map of the immediate surroundings. As the cameras are fixed (ie. can not move independently of the rover), they have a widefield of view (approximately 120° both horizontally and vertically) to allow a large amount of terrain to be visible.They are considered engineering cameras since they were not designed to be used for scientific experiments. The other set of engineering cameras on the rovers are the
Navcam s.External links
* [http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/spacecraft_rover_eyes.html NASA page detailing the rovers' "senses"]
* [http://hobbiton.thisside.net/rovermanual/ Mars Exploration Rover Technical Data]
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