Mars Orbiter Camera
Encyclopedia
Mars Observer
The Mars Observer spacecraft, also known as the Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter, was a 1,018-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field...
and Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
spacecrafts. The camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
was built by Malin Space Science Systems
Malin Space Science Systems
Malin Space Science Systems is a San Diego, California company that designs, develops, and operates instruments to fly on unmanned spacecraft. MSSS is headed by chief scientist and CEO Michael C. Malin....
(MSSS) for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the cost of the whole MOC scientific investigation project was about US$ 44 million, higher than anticipated in the budget.
Originally named Mars Observer Camera, it was selected by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
in 1986 for the Mars Observer
Mars Observer
The Mars Observer spacecraft, also known as the Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter, was a 1,018-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field...
mission, but it returned only three images of planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
before the loss of the spacecraft in 1993. A second camera of the same specifications, renamed to Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), was built (with assistance by California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
) and launched on board the Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor
The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...
(MGS) spacecraft in 1996. The camera returned 243,668 images while in orbit around Mars, before the loss of the MGS spacecraft in 2006. Mars Orbiter Camera was operated by its manufacturer, Malin Space Science Systems, from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The scientific instrument consisted of three elements: a black-and-white narrow-angle camera with a spatial resolution of 1.4 metres per pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
(from an altitude of 378 km), and two wide-angle cameras (one red, the other blue) with resolution capabilities spanning 230 m per pixel to 7.5 km/pixel. The narrow-angle camera provided 97,097 (roughly 40%) of the 243,668 images returned by Mars Orbiter Camera.
The narrow-angle camera was placed inside an 80cm-long cylinder with a diameter of 40 cm, and the two wide-angle cameras were attached above the cylinder's front area. All cameras were based on CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
technology and were supported by state-of-the-art 1980s electronics, including a 32-bit radiation-hardened
Radiation hardening
Radiation hardening is a method of designing and testing electronic components and systems to make them resistant to damage or malfunctions caused by ionizing radiation , such as would be encountered in outer space, high-altitude flight, around nuclear reactors, particle accelerators, or during...
10 MHz processor (capable of 1 million instructions per second) and 12 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of DRAM
Dynamic random access memory
Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...
memory buffer.
In addition to taking images, the MOC instrument's 12 MB memory buffer serviced the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Relay antenna as temporary data storage for communications between Earth and landed spacecraft on Mars. For example, more than 7.6 terabit
Terabit
The terabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix tera is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1012 , and therefore...
s of data were transferred to and from the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity). The camera also enabled NASA scientists to choose suitable landing sites for other exploration missions.
See also
Malin also built and operated other cameras for NASA, including:- Mars Color Imager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft
- Context (CTX) Camera also for the MRO spacecraft
- JunoCamJunoCamJunoCam is a visible-light camera/telescope for the Juno Jupiter Orbiter, a NASA space probe to the planet Jupiter launched on 5 August 2011...
, on board the JunoJuno (spacecraft)Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission to the planet Jupiter. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011. The spacecraft is to be placed in a polar orbit to study the planet's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere...
spacecraft, to be deployed in orbit around Jupiter in 2016
External links
- http://www.marsjournal.org/contents/2010/0001/files/malin_mars_2010_0001.pdf