Playing a role in extra-terrestrial discoveries: Was there ever life on Mars?

Teledyne DALSA contributes to a successful Mars landing

Mars science lab spacecraft lifts with a car-sized Curiosity Rover which has 17 cameras and 10 scientific instruments. Image credit: NASA/Scott Andrews/Canon	Target landing area 20 x 7 km. Curiosity will use 10 instruments to investigate if this area of Mars has ever offered conditions favorable for life, including the chemical ingredients for life. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech	Target landing area inside Gale Crater. The image has been captured using several cameras including a high-res stereo camera. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DRL/FU Berlin/MSSS		Martian dust storm along the north seasonal polar cap. The projection of the image is polar stereographic and has a resolution of about 1km per pixel. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Teledyne DALSA's role in space exploration On 5 August, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Curiosity Rover landed on Mars and began a two-year mission whose goal is to determine if the red planet once harboured life. If successful, the resultant data will provide scientists with clues as to where else they might look for life in the future. The image sensors for two of Curiosity's cameras were built at Teledyne DALSA's Canadian semiconductor foundry and represent a part of Teledyne's overall contributions to the launching, landing and operation of the mission. Teledyne DALSA's hazard-avoidance cameras are installed on each corner of the vehicle and the 3D stereoscopic navigation cameras are part of the rover's camera mast (see image left). Spin offs Teledyne Dalsa have earned a reputation for leading edge research and manufacturing of electronic imaging products. This research leads to benefits which flow through to the quality of their vision technologies. Teledyne Dalsa have offered sophisticated digital imaging products and software for machine vision applications for more than thirty years/ All Teledyne Dalsa products are manufactured with the same high-quality components and attention-to-detail as was offered to the Mars Curiosity program. Adept Turnkey provide Teledyne DALSA products to the Australian and New Zealand markets and would be pleased to discuss your machine vision needs for your application whether for a standalone camera or OEM components for integrated vision solutions.

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Adept Turnkey Pty Ltd are "The Machine Vision and Imaging Specialists" and distributor of Teledyne DALSA products in Australia and New Zealand. To find out more about any Teledyne DALSA machine vision product please contact us or call us at Perth (08) 9242 5411 / Sydney (02) 9979 2599 / Melbourne (03) 9384 1775