4.5-billion-pixel of Mars by NASA’s Perseverance Rover

NASA's Mars Exploration ProgramSource images credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSSStitching and retouching: Andrew Bodrov / 360pano.eu   Sols 962-965: View of "Airey Hill"   NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z stereo imaging system to capture this 360-degree panorama at "Airey Hill", where the rover remained parked during the entirety of solar conjunction. The 4.5-billion-pixel panorama is made up of 1237 individual Mastcam-Z images stitched together. The images acquired on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, 2023, the 962nd and 963rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission.   Additionally panorama includes 64 individual images the rover’s deck as seen by its Mastcam-Z camera on Sol 965 (November 6, 2023) of the mission.   Imaging coverage of the sky has also been digitally smoothed and expanded based on the actual sky color observed as the panorama was being acquired on Mars.   Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.   A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).   Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.   The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.   NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.   Other panoramas of Mars by Perseverance rover: http://www.360cities.net/sets/perseverance-mars