About this Gigapixel

NASA's Mars Exploration Program (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)
Sols 53-64: View of "Van Zyl Overlook"
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z stereo imaging system to capture this 360-degree panorama at "Van Zyl Overlook", where the rover was parked for 13 days as the Ingenuity helicopter performed its first flights. The 4.5-billion-pixel panorama is made up of 1004 individual Mastcam-Z images stitched together. The images were taken between April 15 and 26, 2021, or the 53rd and 64th Martian days, or sols, of the mission.
Additionally panorama includes the rover’s deck as seen by its Mastcam-Z camera on Sol 3 (February 21, 2021) 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 in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
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.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
Other panoramas of Mars by Perseverance rover: https://www.360cities.net/sets/perseverance-mars

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