Approximating the colour of Mars

The Panoramic Camera `PanCam' is a multispectral stereo camera system and the primary remote sensing instrument for the ESA ExoMars rover, an astrobiology mission to search for signs of life on Mars. PanCam includes two wide-angle cameras, each with a monochrome sensor combined with a series of filters: broadband Red, Green and Blue filters for colour images, and a variety of narrowband `geology' filters optimized for detecting hydrated minerals. Colour images are desirable but time and power budgets will mean that it will not always be possible to capture images using the three broadband colour filters. The aim of this project is to investigate the use of machine learning and AI approaches to automatically produce approximate RGB colour images given one or more images from the geology filters. We have a PanCam emulator available and a large collection of images already captured using the emulator during field trials at Mars analogue sites, with the opportunity to collect more data using the emulator. This work could expand to include images released by NASA from their previous and current missions to Mars, which also use multispectral camera systems with filters of different wavelengths. With the rover due to land on Mars in 2021, this is an opportunity to work on data for the ExoMars mission as it happens.