ExoMars Panoramic Camera 3D Vision: Expected Quality of Rover Surroundings Description

The Pasteur payload on the ESA ExoMars Rover due for launch in 2013 is designed to search for evidence of extant or extinct life either on or down to 2 m below the surface of Mars. The Panoramic Camera stereo imaging system (PanCam) on the rover will be used for visual characterization of the rover’s surroundings and remote detection of potential sample sites. It consists of two wide angle multispectral cameras each with a 34° field-of-view (Wide Angle CameraWAC) and a high resolution monoscopic camera (High Resolution Camera, HRC) with 5° field-of-view, both mounted on a shared pan-tilt unit on top of the rover mast