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Laser camera, sound and light
The “SuperCam” camera designed by the French, installed at the top of the “Presference” mobile robot, will contribute to the study of rocks with sound and light, by means of lasers and microphones, in search of traces of past life on the Planet red.
The robot was equipped with two other European devices, the Spanish “Meda” intended to measure the parameters of the Martian atmosphere and the Norwegian “Remfax” intended to probe the interior of the planet.
The “SuperCam” is the size of a shoebox and weighs about five kilograms. It will operate with its “superpower” from the top of the robot and integrate with additional US-made analysis and control tools installed in the mobile robot body.
“It’s like a geophysical clock that determines which direction to take to take a sample and examine its surroundings,” said camera designer, astrophysicist Sylvester Morris of the Institute for Astrophysics and Planetary Research. Morris was also designed by the older sister, “Chem Cam”, who has been working on the American “Curiosity” vehicle since 2012.
Morris has indicated that “SuperCam” will initially perform basic chemical analyzes similar to those performed by “ChemCam”.
The head of the new camera is fitted with a laser device which, if fired at a boulder up to seven meters in length, would evaporate a small portion of it as plasma. The light emitted is analyzed by a spectrometer which detects “the elements that make up rocks”, such as iron, silica or aluminum. This time a high-resolution color camera completes this first observation to characterize the selected targets.
But “the search for traces of life requires, in addition to chemistry and the analysis of molecules, analyzes related to metallurgy”, according to the researcher of the Institute of Astrophysics and Planetary Research, by “adding three techniques”.
The “Super Cam” emits green lasers with a range of 12 meters, linked to the “Raman” spectrometer, which monitors the organization of the atoms of the substance.
An infrared spectrometer supplements this observation by analyzing it down to the horizon, the way in which sunlight reflects off the target.
Finally, the “first on Mars” microphone will provide information on the hardness of the rock, thanks to the analysis of the sound caused by a laser shot which strikes it.
The “SuperCam” remote control will complete the American “rubs”, the Pixel and the Sherlock. Both devices are located at the end of an articulated arm at the bottom of the rover. The first is to study the chemical composition, while the second is to seek to create a biological imprint on the rocks. Laser shots from “SuperCam” will help identify the best targets and “clean” the surface before examining it with “Pixel” and “Sherlock”.
Sylvester Morris said, “The idea is that a specific device should answer a set of questions, and the question should be answered with multiple tools.”
He added: “If we get through a device that there are life effects, then this conclusion will have to be confirmed with other tools.” As for the final conclusion, I will have to return to Earth, after a few years, with samples that will be “preserved” collected.
It should be noted that the production of “SuperCam” is the result of the work of a “great team” which included about 200 people from 14 national laboratories, and about a hundred others working for the manufacturers.
Raft and oxygen machine
However, the first months of the mission will not be devoted to this first objective, parallel tests being planned.
In particular, NASA seeks to prove that it is possible to fly a motor vehicle to another planet. The helicopter, called “Ingenuity”, should manage to rise into the air equal to 1% thicker than that of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Another objective is to prepare for future human missions by experimenting with the direct production of oxygen on site, with a device called “MOXI”. This device, about the size of a car battery, is said to be able to produce about ten grams of oxygen in an hour, by absorbing carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere, as plants do.
This oxygen will allow future human settlers to breathe, and it will also be used as fuel.
NASA has invested around $ 2.4 billion to build and launch the “Mars 2020” mission. The cost of disembarking and operations at the site is initially estimated at $ 300 million.
Perseverance will be the fifth probe to walk on the surface of Mars, all American since the first mission in 1997, and one of them, the “Curiosity” probe, is still active.
However, China has finally put its “Tianwen-1” spacecraft into orbit of Mars, and it contains a robotic robot, which is expected to land on Mars in May.
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