Illustration of the Mars Perseverance Rover utilizing its SuperCam instrument to laser zap a rock in order to check what its made from. Credit: NASA
NASAs Mars Perseverance Rover features an excellent SuperCam that can take a look at rocks and soils with a cam, laser, and spectrometers to seek organic substances that could be related to past life on Mars. It first utilized the laser to zap rocks on Mars last year, not too long after its February 18 goal. Formerly the operations team picked the targets, and now Perseverance has actually chosen its own targets and shot them with the SuperCam laser to identify their elemental compositions.
Perseverance has continued into Hawksbill Gap, making remote sensing observations of little portions of outcropping rock layers looking for a great place to collect a sample. Considering that Perseverance remains in the Shenandoah quadrangle, we are utilizing target names from Shenandoah National Park. A few of the names this previous week included “Bald_Face_Mountain,” “Little_Devil_Stairs,” “Sunset_Hill,” “Luck_Hollow,” and “Moody_Creek.” Determination logged nearly 400 meters (1,300 feet) of driving progress for the week of May 15-21, collecting an overall range considering that landing of over 11.8 km (7.3 miles) since Sol 446.
Perseverances SuperCam Uses AEGIS For the First Time: SuperCam Remote Micro-Image of one of the 2 targets picked by the AEGIS software application for chemical analysis. The laser targeted a line of 10 points shown by the red crosshairs. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/ CNES/IRAP.
In another first, Perseverance picked 2 targets on Sol 442 and shot them with the SuperCam laser to determine their elemental compositions. Note that it was the rover itself that chose the targets, not the operations group. Typically, when the rover team chooses the targets, the observations are not made until the following day. If Perseverance selects its own targets, it can shoot them right after a drive, lots of hours prior to the rover group back on Earth has time to get and examine the Navcam images from the rovers new area and choose targets.
Having the SuperCam results right now can inform the team to unusual compositions in time to make decisions about additional analyses prior to the rover moves on. The software plan that enables this target choice is called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, and was developed at JPL for previous rover objectives and adapted for SuperCam on Perseverance.
Determinations SuperCam Uses AEGIS For the First Time: Navcam image of the scene utilized by the onboard AEGIS software application to select 2 rock targets to be shot by the SuperCam laser for chemical analysis. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
AEGIS demands Navcam images to be taken, and it then evaluates the images to discover rocks and prioritize them for analysis based on size, brightness, and numerous other functions. It consequently initiates a series in which SuperCam fires its laser to determine the chemical makeup of one or 2 leading concern targets chosen from the Navcam images.
AEGIS screening on Perseverance started in March by gathering SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) images but not shooting the laser. After tweaking several parameters on succeeding tests, the laser was utilized by AEGIS for the very first time last week. The accompanying images reveal the rocks that were selected and shot. RMI images were taken after the laser shots to suggest where the laser fired. The Perseverance team plans to utilize AEGIS often from now on to supply more fast data on the composition of rocks around the rovers path.
Written by Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator, SuperCam/ Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument at Purdue University.
NASAs Mars Perseverance Rover includes an outstanding SuperCam that can take a look at rocks and soils with a video camera, laser, and spectrometers to look for organic substances that could be related to past life on Mars. Formerly the operations group selected the targets, but now Perseverance has actually selected its own targets and shot them with the SuperCam laser to determine their elemental structures.
Perseverances SuperCam Uses AEGIS For the First Time: SuperCam Remote Micro-Image of one of the two targets picked by the AEGIS software for chemical analysis. In another initially, Perseverance selected two targets on Sol 442 and shot them with the SuperCam laser to determine their elemental compositions. AEGIS screening on Perseverance began in March by gathering SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) images but not firing the laser.