High Resolution Stereo Camera

High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) is a camera experiment on Mars Express.[1] A version for Earth called HRSC-AX was also developed, as was a version for Mars 96.[1] It has four main parts: camera head, super resolution channel, instrument frame, and digital unit.[1] At an altitude of 250 km from Mars, SRC can produce images with a resolution of 2.3 meters/pixel of 2.35 km square Mars terrain.[1] It has 9 channels and can produce digital terrain models.[1] A typical image from HRSC of Mars has a resolution ranging from 12.5 for nadir (directly down) to 25 m/pixel for the farthest off-nadir shots, which can be up to 18.9 degrees.[2]

By 2012, about 61.5% of the surface of Mars was mapped at a resolution of at least 20 meters per pixel by the Mars Express mission using this camera.[3] Another area of study is repeat imaging, to allow the study of dynamic processes on Mars.[2][4] Another trick is to make short videos of the Mars surface by taking advantage of the pushbroom nature of the detector, each section is slightly offset for a different color, but when combined each view be used to make a short animation.[5]

By the start of 2015, about 70% of Mars had been imaged by Mars at resolutions greater than 20 m per pixel, and 97% at resolutions of least 60 m per pixel.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d e DLR – HRSC on Mars Express Archived 2012-01-17 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "High-resolution repeat imaging allows detecting dynamic surface processes on Mars".
  3. ^ ESA -Mapping Mars
  4. ^ Sidiropoulos, P.; Muller, J.-P. (2015). "On the status of orbital high-resolution repeat imaging of Mars for the observation of dynamic surface processes" (PDF). Planetary and Space Science. 117: 207–222. Bibcode:2015P&SS..117..207S. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2015.06.017.
  5. ^ TPS – Capturing Martian Weather in Motion – November 4, 2016
  6. ^ THE HIGH RESOLUTION STEREO CAMERA (HRSC): STATUS AND FACTS (2015)