AbstractThe hand–eye system is an important component of the Zhurong rover, which is crucial for positioning, terrain reconstruction, stereo vision measurement and mission planning functions. The hand–eye system consists of a navigation camera and mast mechanism, and its positioning accuracy has an important effect on the teleoperation mission of the Zhurong rover. A positioning method that combines close‐range photogrammetry and robot kinematics is proposed. It includes geometric calibration, stereo vision measurement and coordinate transformations. Experiments were carried out in different scenes (for example, field, laboratory and Mars) to verify the positioning accuracy of the hand–eye system. The minimum and maximum positioning errors of the hand–eye system, as verified by in‐orbit checkpoints, were 16.5 and 28.7 mm, respectively. This positioning accuracy can effectively satisfy the requirements of the teleoperation mission of the Zhurong rover.