Mars2020 landing cameras Options

[Stratespace]

I am so enthusiastic about the (proposed) Mars2020 camera suite during EDL, as presented today at IPPW:
- 3 PointGrey Chameleon 3 that will be on the skycrane and look up, to monitor parachute deployment at 150 fps.
- 1 GoPro Hero 4 on the skycrane, looking down to monitor the rover descent and landing
- 1 GoPro Hero 4 on the rover, looking up to monitor the skycrane and fly-away
- 1 GoPro Hero 4 on the rover, looking down like MARDI did on Curiosity
- MARDI, of course.

All GoPro have microphone that will be activated, and have been tested successfully in the proper thermal and radiative environment. We should have some awsome footage if it actually flies.

[nprev]

...clearly we gotta be more careful what we post in jest lest it be taken seriously...

You just don't buy a couple of $300 cams at an electronics store & slap them on to a top-of-the-line interplanetary mission with planned significant longevity, obviously. I can see GoPro getting a contract to build custom cams to reduce mass & comply with both vehicle interface requirements & PPPs. No idea if that would be favorable in terms of cost and performance vs. building them in-house or procuring them from flight-proven vendors, but it really would have to be in order to offset the increased risk level.