Hazcam

Hazcams (short for hazard avoidance cameras) are photographic cameras mounted on the front and rear of NASA's Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions to Mars and on the lower front portion of Chinese Yutu rover mission to the Moon.

The Curiosity rover's hazcams are sensitive to visible light and return black and white images of resolution 1024 × 1024 pixels.

Due to their positioning on both sides of the rovers, simultaneous images taken by either both front or both rear cameras can be used to produce a 3D map of the immediate surroundings.

As the cameras are fixed (i.e. can not move independently of the rover), they have a wide field of view (approximately 120° both horizontally and vertically) to allow a large amount of terrain to be visible.

The safe landing of the Mars Science Laboratory was initially confirmed using the vehicle's hazcams.