Which Perseverance camera system has zoom capability?

Which Perseverance camera system has zoom capability? Mastcam-Z. The name itself expands to “Mast Camera Zoom,” distinguishing it from earlier fixed-focal-length Mastcam instruments.

Mastcam-Z is Perseverance’s primary imaging system for studying Martian rocks, soil, landscapes, and the rover’s surroundings. It consists of two cameras mounted on the rover’s remote-sensing mast, allowing scientists to make stereoscopic, three-dimensional observations as well as color and multispectral images. Its 3.6:1 zoom can change the field of view from roughly 5 to 15 degrees.

The common mix-up is with Navcam, which also sits on the mast and supports navigation and terrain imaging, but is not the rover’s zoom camera. MAHLI belongs to Curiosity and is a close-up imager mounted at the end of that rover’s robotic arm. Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z evolved from Curiosity’s Mastcam, adding adjustable zoom while retaining scientific imaging capabilities. The instrument was built by Malin Space Science Systems, with Arizona State University leading its investigation team.