This is not a camera that we intend to launch into space, but it is built from the same components, with the same materials and to the same tolerances, as the actual flight cameras for the Mars 2020 rover. We will put the EQM through the same kinds of stresses and place the same kinds of performance demands on it that we expect to put the flight cameras through. We will make sure that images through the EQM zoom optics have the right resolution and contrast and that the zoom and focus will move smoothly and repeatedly over their required ranges of motion. We will check that the camera will perform as needed over the range of shock and vibration conditions that we expect to encounter during launch and landing. And we will test it over the full range (and more) of temperatures and pressures that we expect to encounter on Mars, for at least as many temperature cycles (actually, many times more) as we expect to operate them during the Mars 2020 mission.

But can it take photos of the required optical quality, over the full range of possible zoom motion? The answer appears to be YES! Here is the EQM's "First Light" photo in the laboratory, under normal ambient temperature and pressure conditions, of a test target designed to help us assess image quality.