In this episode of Laboratory Equipment's LabChat, Michelle Taylor speaks with Jim Bell, a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and principal investigator and lead scientist for the Mastcam-Z, a camera system mounted to the top of Mars Perseverance rover that essentially acts as the rovers eyes.
Bell has been involved in numerous NASA robotic space exploration missions and Mars Rovers, including NASA's most recent- Perseverance. The Perseverance rover successfully launched on July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It will land on the Red Planet in February 2021. Once the rover lands, it needs to be able to see where it's going, and that's where Bell comes in.