Mars InSite Visual Markers Question

[xrunner]

I'm curious as to the placement of the little "registration" marks on parts of the InSite lander. In the picture you can see them on the seismic sensor and the arm. I'm sure they enable accurate size or distance calculations, but mainly I'm curious as to the placement. They almost seem to be randomly placed in position and orientation. Anybody have any ideas?

Insite Pics

[xrunner]

Let me bump this one time - anyone have any ideas?

[Brumby]

Just from looking at that pic, the placement is asymmetric - which means you can be certain of orientation when viewing from any angle ... but there is the possibility of more information because of the number of markers.

I'm wondering if they might be indicating the location of elements of the instrument package hidden underneath.

[Mr. Scram]

You want a pattern of markers to fit one position and one position only. Within that requirement you have room for other requirements, like having a fixed distance repeated a number of times or other things which may be useful.

[xrunner]

Good ideas guys. Makes sense at least to my little mind. 

[vtwin@cox.net]

Since the markers appear to be in pairs offset from one another, I'm going to wager a guess they are markers placed to aid in correcting any visual distortion which may be encountered in the photo.

[SeanB]

May also be there to allow use by other cameras, as they are only on the side by the lander, so they must be there for the lander cameras only, probably so they can use them as distance and rotation markers for any image with them in it. The cameras probably already have a set of correction factors available for the lenses back at NASA so they know just how the images will be distorted by the fisheye lens as they go off axis, and the markers are there to verify the correction factors in image processing.