The Mars Pathfinder stereoscopic imager includes two imaging triplets, two fold mirrors separated by 150 mm for stereo viewing, a 12-space filter wheel in each path, and a fold prism to place the images side-by-side on the CCD focal plane. Fused silica windows at each path entrance prevent dust intrusion. the optical triplets are an f/10 design, stopped down to f/18 with 23-mm effective focal lengths and a 14.4 degree field of view. The pixel instantaneous field of view is one milliradian. The filter wheel four pairs of atmospheric filters, two pairs of stero filters, eleven individual geologic filters (which, when combined with the two pairs of stereo filters, result in thirteen distinct geologic filters) and one diopter or close-up lens, designed to acquire images of magnetic, wind-blown dust which adheres to a small magnet located on the IMP tip plate.
Full panoramas of the landing site are acquired during the mission using the stereo baseline provided by the camera optics. Additionally, monoscopic panoramas are acquired both prior and subsequent to the mast deployment, yielding vertically displaced stereo pairs with approximately 80 cm baseline. Images of a substantial portion of the visible surface are acquired in multispectral images with as many as eight spectral bands.
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