The Mastcam-Z focal plane array (FPA) and electronics are essentially build-to-print copies of the heritage MSL Mastcam FPA (Malin et al. 2017)... Details of the sensor, electronics, and timing signals for the FPA are identical to those described for MSL Mastcam and are thus only summarized here.

I understand that MastCam Z has video capability at 4 fps for the full sensor area but subsample areas can be selected. What frame rate will its video of Ingenuity be - 30 fps ?

Each camera is capable of acquiring images at very high frame rates compared to previous missions, including 720p high definition video (1280 × 720 pixels) at ~10 frames per second.

I've not found anything on how the microphone is mounted to the Rover.

I hear Ingenuity's window of operation will last about 30 days. When does the 30 days start?

Once Ingenuity is deployed to the surface, it has 30 sols (31 Earth Days) to complete its activities. The first phase is a commissioning process that is expected to take about a week; then the first flight tests begin.

It's not straightforward to compare computing power in objective units...

Is the SHERLOC motor count provided on an image JSON feed somewhere?

The sclk (mission time) filename (and json) field appears to start on Jan 1st, 2000...

I think it would be smart to create or define clearly some very specific topics that those discussions can be herded into and have some general information ones where we can all see the broad events that happen each Sol.

So along with images of the terrain from altitude, I hope we get some images of Perseverance from Ingenuity as well.

My question to anyone more familiar with the operations is will the rover now move away from that dropped cover before ejecting Ingenuity's cover or can they both be dropped in the same place.

The debris shield will remain in place until just days before Ingenuity is deployed to the surface... About 60 days after landing, the delivery system will deploy the helicopter...

Note that for new Sampling and Caching interior workspace, the belly pan in that front end of the rover is dropped soon after the rover lands.

If "camera_position" is correct at (2.08195,-0.111422,-1.69411) then WATSON's eyeball would be a fairly high 1.7m off the ground...

Anyone know if "nylon" zip ties have been used on previous rovers or if they are new to Perseverance?

If "camera_position" is correct at (2.08195,-0.111422,-1.69411) then WATSON's eyeball would be a fairly high 1.7m off the ground...

So moon imaging should be very similar.

After landing, the rover will begin traversing to the closest ROI. On the way to the ROI, using orbital data, the rover could be directed to areas that likely meet the requirements for deploying the helicopter and flying the technology demonstration sorties. These areas would have to have low slopes and sufficient surface texture for accurate tracking by the demonstrator’s navigation filter during flight and few rocks higher than 5 cm to interfere with its landing. The rover would need to image the area being considered at higher resolution than from orbit using stereo rover Navigation camera images to determine if it meets the requirements. If the area for landed helicopter operations is a patch about 10m×10m and outbound sorties lengths are 100 m, then analysis of orbital images and stereo digital elevation models indicates that the rover would need to traverse less than 200 m in over 90% of the landing ellipses to find suitable areas for deploying and flying the helicopter.

Should we create a new topic that is discussion about the helicopter?

FWIW - The name ‘Percy’ was adopted by almost everyone I know on the project pretty much immediately after it was announced.

The cost-plus, fixed-fee contract has a potential mission services value of $60.2 million and a maximum potential value of $84.5 million. Work on MAPS begins immediately with a 14-month base period, followed by two option periods that may be exercised at NASA’s discretion...
Marshall is responsible for the MSR Program’s MAV element, which is a two-stage vehicle that will be a critical element in supporting MSR to retrieve and return the samples that the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will collect for return to Earth. The Martian environment will be a significant factor in the design, development, manufacturing, testing, and qualification of two different solid rocket motors with multiple deliveries of each. Through the MAPS contract, Northrop Grumman will provide the propulsion systems for the MAV, as well as other supporting equipment and logistics services.

I don't think the ban on cooperation extends also to innocent espionage activities.

Is the low sun angle why the polar cap isn't bright white like we see in other images (both Hubble and other orbiters?)