The Beagle 2 lander carries three cameras:

A stereo pair of cameras mounted on the robotic arm will provide a panoramic view of the scene around the landing site and monitor the activities during sampling.

One of the cameras is equipped with a pop-up mirror which will provide the first wide angle picture of Mars soon after landing without having to lift the robotic arm from its stowage. Later in the mission the mirror will be used to observe the mole in its carrier tube.

A third camera is part of a microscope, deployed by the robotic arm which will be used to examine fresh rock surfaces cleaned of weathered debris by a rock grinder. The microscope with 6 micron resolution will image at various wavelengths.

Management of the camera systems is the responsibility of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of University College London, who are also in charge of the mechanical aspects of the instruments. Space-X is providing the heads, electronics and optics for the panoramic cameras. The microscope has been developed by the Max Planck Institut fur Aeronomie in Lindau. The panoramic cameras will be used to create a 3D model of the landing site using software from the Joanneum Research Institute (Graz, Austria) whose expertise is in image processing.