McGowan_1999abstr

 

 

VIDEO TECHNOLOGIES FOR MARS

 

John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

Desktop Video Expert Center

NASA Ames Research Center

e-mail: jmcgowan@mail.arc.nasa.gov

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

One desirable goal for missions to Mars is to provide real-time or near real-time television quality full motion video for the missions, similar to the television coverage of the manned landings on the Moon, for example. This possibility has been studied in the context of a proposed mission to Mars to fly a small airplane down the Valles Marineris canyon. Video technologies were identified. The use of MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) digital video, the current state of the art in standardized commercial video products, is explored in detail. Wavelet video compression, which may offer somewhat better video compression than MPEG, is also discussed. Power, weight, and volume requirements for a video system were estimated. Bit rate requirements, which are especially relevant to the communications link between Mars and Earth, were estimated. Technical issues and risks of video technologies in a Mars mission were explored, including space-hardening issues, bit errors due to noise in deep space, and the risks and costs of custom video compression systems. The principal obstacle to video appears to be the low bit rates currently possible over communications links between Mars and Earth.