ESA ExoMars Rover PanCam Pre-launch Modeling and Accuracy Assessment for Localization and Topographic Mapping

The ExoMars Rover Mission is the flagship mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) Aurora Program. The ExoMars rover, highly mobile scientific platform, will carry a drill and a suite of instruments dedicated to exobiology and geochemistry research on Mars. As this rover will be expected to travel kilometers over the Martian surface [1], high-precision localization and topographic mapping will be critical for safe Martian surface operations, precise traverse path planning, and coordinated multidisciplinary scientific experiments. The design of the stereo imaging system planned for the ExoMars rover, the panoramic camera (PanCam), is vital to achieving a high level of precision in rover localization and topographic mapping. Quantitative error analysis of this system is being conducted in order to improve the systems design as well as increase scientists awareness of the level of precision available, thus enabling them to make decisions with appropriate situational awareness. This paper presents the initial results from our error analysis of the ExoMars PanCam using an analytical approach.