The Multiple Line Scanner Camera Experiment for the Russian Mars 96 Mission: Status Report and Prospects for the Future

A Russian spacecraft will be launched to Mars in November 1996. Two German multiple line scanners on board, HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera) and WAOSS (Wide Angle Optoelectronic Stereo Scanner), will obtain highand low resolution multiphase color stereo images for geoscientific, photogrammetric, and cartographic studies of our neighbor planet and for studies of its atmosphere. The cameras are currently being radiometrically and geometrically calibrated and undergo thorough performance analyses. Laboratory and outdoor tests of the flight modules indicate that the cameras meet or exceed their design goals. An extensive software package for processing of the data from the raw telemetry formats to the topographic orthomap is currently being developed.