How common is it for spacecraft to have "selfie" capability?

Question

According to ESA:

A sudden small power reduction was observed in a solar array of Sentinel-1A, orbiting at 700 km altitude, at 17:07 GMT on 23 August. Slight changes in the orientation and the orbit of the satellite were also measured at the same time.

Following a preliminary investigation, the operations team at ESA’s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany suspected a possible impact by space debris or micrometeoroid on the solar wing.

Detailed analyses of the satellite’s status were performed to understand the cause of this power loss. In addition, the engineers decided to activate the board cameras to acquire pictures of the array. These cameras were originally carried to monitor the deployment of the solar wings, which occurred just a few hours after launch in April 2014, and were not intended to be used afterwards.

Following their switch-on, one camera provided a picture that clearly shows the strike on the solar panel.

Of course all Mars rovers's cameras are incredibly useful for monitoring the rover's condition and were almost certainly essential for their long mission lives, but I'm interested in applications in space.

According to this answer, despite the substantial and mechanically complex series of events that allow the [JWST] to unfold and deploy both a giant, precision optical system and a giant multi-layered heat shield, there does not appear to be a plan to add self-monitoring cameras to it.

So: I am wondering how common it is for (at least recent) spacecraft to have "selfie cams" or status, health, self-inspection or function verification cameras which can provide ground personnel with images.

above: Photo credit: ESA, from SENTINEL-1A Fragment Impact in Space. Open this image in separate tab for large size.

Answer 1

It seems that BepiColombo Spacecraft Snaps Its First Selfie From Space on Its Way to Mercury is actually BepiColombo's First Image from Space.

In fact, the spacecraft has three dedicated self-monitoring cameras! See below.

The BepiColombo Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) has returned its first image from space. The view looks along one of the extended solar arrays, which was deployed earlier this morning and confirmed by telemetry. The structure in the bottom left corner is one of the sun sensors on the MTM, with the multi-layered insulation clearly visible.

The transfer module is equipped with three monitoring cameras, which provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The other two cameras will be activated tomorrow and are expected to capture images of the deployed medium- and high-gain antennas onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO).

The monitoring cameras will be used on various occasions during the cruise phase, notably during the flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury. While the MPO is equipped with a high-resolution scientific camera, this can only be operated after separating from the MTM upon arrival at Mercury in late 2025 because, like several of the 11 instrument suites, it is located on the side of the spacecraft fixed to the MTM during cruise.

BepiColombo launched at 01:45 GMT on 20 October on an Ariane 5. BepiColombo is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. It is the first European mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and the first to send two spacecraft to make complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment at the same time.

More about the monitoring cameras.

Image below has been reduced in size:

The Mercury Transfer Module of the BepiColombo mission is equipped with three monitoring cameras (M-CAM), which provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The positions of the three cameras are indicated with the orange icons, and example fields of views are illustrated.

M-CAM 1 looks down the extended solar array of the MTM, while M-CAM 2 and 3 are looking towards the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). The MPO’s medium-gain antenna and magnetometer boom can be seen in M-CAM 2, once deployed. M-CAM 3 has the possibility to see the MPO’s high-gain antenna. Since all deployable parts of the spacecraft are rotatable, a range of orientations may be seen in the actual images.

The first sets of images are expected to be taken about 12 hours and 1.5 days after launch.

Click here for a timeline of activities immediately following launch.

Answer 2

I have just run across the following "first" in satellite selfie history:

From a Feb. 24, 2000 Hughes Space and Communications News Release, as found in Spaceflight Now Camera sees giant Hughes satellite deploying its wings

For the first time from space, video images have been captured of a commercial satellite unfolding its purple-hued solar wings in orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

When extended, the wingspan of the satellite approximates that of a Boeing 737 jetliner.

Black-and-white photo shows fully deployed solar wing with four panels and associated concentrators. These concentrators are innovations for the Hughes HS 702 satellite, to concentrate more of the sun's energy on the highly efficient gallium arsenide solar cells. Photo: Hughes

Photo taken by camera on board the Galaxy 11 Hughes HS 702 satellite shows solar wing as it unfolds, and solar concentrators being deployed along the third and fourth solar panels on the wing. Photo: Hughes

Hughes HS 702 compared to 737 aircraft. Photo: Hughes

Answer 3

And there's this one found in ESA's Rosetta Blog :

Rosetta and Philae Snap Selfie at Comet

Using the CIVA imaging system on board Rosetta’s lander Philae, the spacecraft have snapped a ‘selfie’ at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

[...] The latest selfie was taken during Sunday night from a distance of about 50 km from the comet, with one of CIVA-P’s cameras capturing the side of the Rosetta spacecraft and one of its 14 metre-long solar arrays, with 67P/C-G in the background.

Answer 4

In my experience it is very uncommon for spacecraft to have cameras for self-inspection. For most missions it is not particularly justified since there are much simpler methods to get the telemetry needed. Sentinel-1 had a particularly complex deployment (see Sentinel-1 performs opening dance routine) which no doubt justified something more sophisticated.

The only other case I've come across is ISRO deployment cameras on RESOURCESAT-2A.

On the other hand, I'm aware of operations people who have this sort of facility on their wish list even for simple deployments. So, maybe it is something that will used more in the future.

Answer 5

• Shuttle always had payload bay cameras and (if the arm was flown) wrist-and-elbow mounted cameras on the robot arm. This allowed "selfies" of much of the vehicle, but by no means all. After the STS-107 accident, a boom-mounted camera and sensor system was added, which, when grappled by the arm, allowed all of the vehicle's thermal protection system that was critical for entry to be imaged.

  

• The Bigelow Aerospace Genesis inflatable test spacecraft included many selfie cameras. Including 'meta' space selfies, taking pictures of employee's pictures which were projected onto the exterior of the craft.

Source

Answer 6

The Tianwen-1 orbiter in a halo-like orbit around Earth-Moon L2 recently released a small selfie-cam spacecraft in a close parallel-ish orbit.

Two images From http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6813041/content.html click for full size (see also this tweet and Space.com's China's Mars orbiter snaps amazing selfies above Red Planet)

It seems this is not the first deep space selfiecam that Tianwen-1 has been photographed from. CNET's Here's the first 'selfie' of China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft on its way to Mars includes an image and links to a blogpost from which these CNSA images are from (click for full size):

Answer 7

Just an addition rather than an answer, but topical given that its on its way to the moon..

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-artemis-i-cameras-to-offer-new-views-of-orion-earth-moon

Nov 16, 2022

NASA’s Artemis I Cameras to Offer New Views of Orion, Earth, Moon

There are 24 cameras on the rocket and spacecraft – eight on SLS and 16 on Orion – to document essential mission events including liftoff, ascent, solar array deployment, external rocket inspections, landing and recovery, and capture images of Earth and the Moon.

On Orion, an external camera mounted on the crew module adapter will show the SLS rocket’s ascent, providing the “rocket cam” view the public often sees during launches. Another camera will provide a view of service module panel jettison and solar array wing deployment. Four cameras attached to the spacecraft’s solar array wings on the service module will help engineers assess the overall health of the outside of Orion and can capture a selfie view of the spacecraft with the Earth or Moon in the background.

“Each of Orion’s four solar array wings has a commercial off-the-shelf camera mounted at the tip that has been highly modified for use in space, providing a view of the spacecraft exterior,” said David Melendrez, imagery integration lead for the Orion Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Due to bandwidth limitations on the spacecraft that prioritize transmitting critical data to the ground, livestream video quality will be lower than the onboard recordings. As a result, some of the highest quality views may not be received until well after they are recorded and can be downlinked.

The field of view of each camera has been optimized to look at the spacecraft, not deep space

Camera details:

Ref: Deep-Space-Systems_Engineering-Camera-System-for-Orion.pdf

Orion also will carry cameras that are part of a technology demonstration, called Callisto. The Callisto payload includes three in-cabin cameras that will be used to test video conferencing capabilities and may enhance the public’s ability to imagine themselves inside Orion.

(not selfie related) Callisto:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/callisto-technology-demonstration-to-fly-aboard-orion-for-artemis-i

Lockheed Martin has partnered with Amazon, and Cisco to bring the Alexa digital assistant and Webex video collaboration aboard Orion’s first flight test in deep space.

located on Orion’s center console and includes a tablet that will test Webex by Cisco video conferencing software to transmit video and audio from the Mission Control Center at Johnson, and custom-built hardware and software by Lockheed Martin and Amazon that will test Alexa, Amazon’s voice-based virtual assistant, to respond to the transmitted audio.

Traveling in deep space, it would take too long for Alexa on Orion to use the cloud back on Earth, so Callisto will use NASA’s Deep Space Network and a local database aboard the spacecraft to communicate with Alexa and respond.

Answer 8

New via from Scott Manley

from The BRIGHTEST Rocket Launch In History - SLS Launches Artemis 1 here's a screenshot from a GoPro mounted on a solar panel of the Artemis spacecraft. In addition to showing the spacecraft itself, "the main booster stage" photobombed the image (very top of image just right of center)

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Scott Manley's recent video China's Mars Rover Zhurong Has Completed Its Primary Mission, Reaches New Milestone includes the following:

And this image here actually gives you a really good idea of the sort of quality of the surface here. This is also the sort of great images from the mission as far as I’m concerned. NASA hasn’t done anything like this.

They had to carry an extra camera and then set it down on the surface of the planet so that it could take a photo of the rover and the lander together.

And you know this is great PR, this is a country that’s absolutely understanding the prestige that it can gain through communication of its spaceflight capabilities.

And if you thought that dropping a camera on the surface of Mars to take a photo of your rover was cool, well they dropped a camera off in deep space so it could take a photograph of the spacecraft in flight. Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission made extensive use of deployable cameras to get scientific imagery, but these amazing images are entirely there for their PR value.