Perseverance’s Laser
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover carries an instrument called ChemCam, which is a LIBS device – a laser induced breakdown spectrometer. It literally fires a laser at rocks, vaporizes a little spot, then analyzes the composition of the vapor. NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover carries an upgraded version of this device known as SuperCam. In this clip, you can see sparks being emitted as the engineers test fire the laser at a target.
The SuperCam instrument has several capabilities beyond its predecessor. It contains 2 different lasers rather than 1, and its detectors have been upgraded allowing it to measure infrared and visible light. Thanks to these capabilities, it can also be used as a Raman Spectrometer – a powerful technique for mineralogical analysis. It also can detect bond vibrations including hydrogen and carbon, which will allow it to characterize some hydrated minerals and organic compounds if there are any present in the targets.
-JBB
