2021-02-26

Decoding the Raw Publicly-Released Mastcam-Z Image Filenames

by Jim Bell

Lots of information about each Mastcam-Z image and how/where it was commanded and acquired on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is encoded in the seemingly-illegible 58-character names of each of the raw images being released on the NASA/JPL web site at https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/

So here’s a simple table/primer about what that spew of characters in the file names mean, for anyone downloading raw Mastcam-Z images:

There are some special case scenarios that could cause confusion by modifying some of these fields slightly by slipping in additional information where the underscore (“_”) characters usually go. If you run into such confusion, let me know via the “Engage With Us” contact form on this web site, and we’ll provide some help. Eventually, once the data start routinely flowing to the NASA Planetary Data System archive around 6 months after landing, additional documentation will be made available that provides lots more detail on the filenames and such special cases. I’ll update this blog once that information becomes available from NASA.

Enjoy the images!!!