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Mars Exploration Rovers Project

MER Title Page | Microscopic Imager | Astrogeology Home

Hardware Image Gallery

The following images were taken in March 2002, and show the MER camera CCD (Charged Coupled Device) detectors, testing facilities, and flight hardware assembly in progress. All the cameras being built for MER, including the microscopic imager use the same CCD detector arrays. The CCD detectors are fabricated by Mitel, Inc., and collect 1024 x 1024 images.

Photos and captions courtesy of Jim Bell, Cornell University.

MI Testing and Calibration Station: A miniaturized version of the MER camera test and calibration setup, shown here, was built especially for the Microscopic Imager (MI) instrument, which has only a 3 cm wide field of view. The MI will image a special set of its own calibration sources and targets, including a miniature version of a focus target like Pancam's, seen here propped up against some of the GSE computers.
800 x 600, 160 kilobytes
CCDs on Wafer: It's wafer thin! In fact, it's a wafer. The MER camera Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detectors are fabricated by Mitel, Inc. on 6-inch wide wafers like this one, which contains 17 potential CCDs plus a number of other test parts. Individual CCDs that are deemed worthy of further consideration can then be cut or "diced" from this wafer and then tested individually for quality and performance.
681, 600, 137 kilobytes 		CCDs: A trio of MER camera Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detectors await testing in the JPL CCD test and calibration facility. These detectors are arrays of 1024 x 2048 picture elements, or pixels. Half of the array (1024 x 1024 pixels) are used to collect the image, and then the data are shifted onto the other half of the array (which has a black shield over it) to be read out and processed by the electronics. These two-part CCD detectors are known as "frame transfer" devices.
800 x 378, 85 kilobytes
Testing Lab: JPL MER CCD test engineer Tom Elliot's laboratory where the CCDs for the MER cameras are screened and tested. This lab has been used to test and select JPL flight cameras for many other missions, like Cassini, Galileo, Voyager, and even Mariner.
800 x 600, 120 kilobytes 		Vacuum Chamber: A MER flight candidate CCD (center) mounted inside JPL MER CCD test engineer Tom Elliot's small vacuum chamber test facility. Here is where the wheat gets separated from the chaff!
450 x 600, 104 kilobytes
Rover Assembly: Flight hardware! Part of the body of one of the MER rovers is seen in the center of this image, being assembled in the JPL Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF) high bay.
430 x 600, 120 kilobytes 		Cruise Stage Assembly: More flight hardware! Parts of the cruise stage for the first MER rover are seen here being assembled in the JPL Spacecraft Assembly Facility high bay.
800 x 585, 209 kilobytes

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