The data from the powerful scientific tool includes sounds from his laser zapping against a rock to prove what it is made of.
The first readings of the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover have arrived on Earth. SuperCam was jointly developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the National Center for Space Studies (CNES). The instrument delivered data to the French Space Agency’s operations center in Toulouse which includes the first laser zap audio from another planet.
“It’s amazing to see SuperCam working so well on Mars,” said Roger Wiens, principal investigator of the SuperCam instrument of Perseverance at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “When we first dreamed of this instrument eight years ago, we were worried that we were too ambitious. Now he’s up there working like a charm. “
“The acquired sounds are of remarkable quality,” says Naomi Murdoch, a researcher and professor at the ISAE-SUPAERO School of Aerospace Engineering in Toulouse, Languedoc. “It’s amazing to think we’ll do science with the first sounds ever recorded on the surface of Mars!”
On March 9, the mission released three SuperCam audio files. Obtained only about 18 hours after landing, when the mast remained stowed on the deck of the rover, the first file captures the faint sounds of the Martian wind.
The wind is most audible, especially around the 20-second mark, in the second sound file, recorded on the rover’s fourth Martian day, or sun.
The third SuperCam file, from Sol 12, includes laser zapping sounds that hit a rock target 30 times at a distance of about 3 feet (10 feet). Some zaps sound slightly stronger than others, providing information about the physical structure of the targets, such as their relative hardness.
“I want to give my sincere thanks and congratulations to our international partners at CNES and the SuperCam team for being part of this momentous journey with us,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate science administrator at NASA headquarters in Washington. “SuperCam really offers our rover eyes to see promising rock samples and ears to hear how it sounds when lasers hit them. This information will be essential in determining which samples we will cache and eventually return to Earth through our innovative Mars sample return campaign, which will be one of humanity’s most ambitious feats. he never did ”
The SuperCam team also received excellent first sets of data from the instrument’s visible and infrared sensor (VISIR), as well as its Raman spectrometer. VISIR collects light reflected by the Sun to study the mineral content of rocks and sediments. This technique complements the Raman spectrometer, which uses a green laser beam to excite the chemical bonds in a sample to produce a signal based on which elements are attached to each other, in turn providing information about the mineral composition of a rock. .
“This is the first time an instrument has used Raman spectroscopy anywhere other than on Earth!” said Olivier Beyssac, CNRS research director at the Institut de Mineralogy, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie in Paris. “Raman spectroscopy will play a crucial role in characterizing minerals to gain a deeper insight into the geological conditions in which they formed and to detect potential organic molecules and minerals that could have been formed by living organisms.”
Learn more about the mission
SuperCam is run by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the body unit of the instrument was developed. This part of the instrument includes various spectrometers, control electronics and software.
The Mast Unit was developed and built by various laboratories of the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and French universities under the contracting authority of the CNES. The calibration objectives on the roof of the rover are provided by the Spanish University of Valladolid.
A key goal for Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s past geology and climate, pave the way for human exploration of the red planet, and be the first mission to collect and hide rock and Martian regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s approach to exploring the Moon to Mars, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the red planet.
JPL, which is managed by NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and managed the operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more information on perseverance:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
nasa.gov/perseverance
News media contacts
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
818-393-9011
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Alana Johnson / Gray Tombstone
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668
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Raphael Sart
National Center for Space Studies, Paris
+33 (0) 1 44 76 74 51
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