Teledyne Image Sensors Power Cameras Aboard NASA’s InSight Mission to Mars

Teledyne DALSA is participating in NASA’s InSight Mission to Mars by providing color CCD image sensors for both the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) and the Instrument Context Camera.

NASA’s InSight Mars lander acquired this image using its robotic arm-mounted Instrument Deployment Camera. This image was acquired on Nov. 27, 2018, Sol 1, where the local mean solar time for the image exposures was 13:32:45. Each IDC image has a field of view of 45 x 45 degrees. Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Teledyne has partnered with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to deliver the color image sensors to power the InSight mission. The camera on the lander’s arm will provide 3D color views of the landing site, instrument placement, and activities to inform engineers and scientists of the best spots for the seismometer and heat flow probe to gather measurements from the interior of Mars.

Teledyne image sensors are not new to Mars. As recently as 2012, and in an earlier partnership with JPL, the company provided 12 black-and-white CCD image sensors to power the Mars rover “Curiosity.”

“We are pleased to join our partner JPL in this fact-finding mission,” said Edwin Roks, group president of Teledyne Digital Imaging. “We expect this mission to tell us much about the origins of Mars, and indeed, the formation of our own planet.”

While the InSight lander began its surface operations immediately, science data collection will begin roughly 10 weeks after landing. Teledyne’s image sensors will play a major role in helping scientists and engineers decide where to place the very specialized instruments to obtain the best results of the study of Mars’ interior.