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Mars Lander Seismometer Gets Protective Shield (theguardian.com)
Nasa's InSight Mars lander has placed a domed shield over its seismometer, completing that instrument's deployment. From a report: The seismometer will look for evidence of ongoing seismic activity on the red planet to provide data about the deep interior of Mars. This will help scientists determine how the planet formed. The seismometer, called the seismic experiment for interior structure (Seis), is the lander's highest priority science instrument. It is needed to complete about three-quarters of the mission's scientific objectives. The spacecraft touched down on 26 November 2018. On 19 December, a robotic arm picked up the instrument from its storage position and placed it on the martian surface about 1.6 metres away from the spacecraft.
Those are called fiducials. They are used to very precisely determine the location, distance, and orientation of an object when pictures of that object are taken. Because of their contrasting colors, the edges of different "wedges" are easy for a human or computer vision system to pick up; the center point is the intersection of those edges, etc. The "ovalness" of the fiducial can be used to determine the angle to the camera.
The same kind of fiducials are placed all over crash tests to track motion and displacement.