Mastcam-Z also has the ability to take high-definition video. From an engineering perspective, Bell says, the video can be used to confirm the rover’s intricate tools, like its drill and sample system, are working properly. “And the second reason? It’s just damn fun,” Bell says. “We think we’re going to try to take videos while we’re driving,” he adds. “And the microphones on the rover will be recording at the same time, so we can merge our video with the audio.”
Sharing the high perch with Mastcam-Z is Perseverance’s
SuperCam instrument. According to Principal Investigator Roger Wiens, “SuperCam is kind of the eyes and ears and nose, if you will, of the [Perseverance] rover.” Although Mastcam-Z might be the first to identify promising sites, Wiens says SuperCam will serve as sort of an advance guard that will remotely characterize the chemistry, mineralogy, and physical properties of rock outcroppings.
SuperCam relies on a range of spectroscopic techniques to investigate targets from a distance. One such technique is called visible and infrared reflectance spectroscopy. This method is exceptionally powerful, Wiens says, because it’s a passive technique that only uses sunlight to distinguish between clays, carbonates, sulfates, silicates, phosphates, and other minerals from a great distance. “Really, it can go as far as you can see,” he says, “and so when visibility is good on Mars, then it could be kilometers.”
SuperCam also will utilize a technique called Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), which uses a 1,064-nanometer laser to study targets as small as a pencil point from up to about 23 feet (7 m) away. The basic idea of LIBS is that “you just need to blast the rock, and then you need to see the color spectrum of the material that you just blasted,” says Wiens. The first few laser shots — each powerful enough to light about a million lightbulbs but lasting just 4 billionths of a second — create a tiny shock wave that removes any dust from the rock’s surface, he says, providing a clear view of the target. After removing dust, additional shots vaporize pieces of rock, creating a plasma. By analyzing the specific colors of light present in this plasma, SuperCam can get an idea of what the rock is made of.
Once Mastcam-Z and SuperCam identify a promising target, the rover will trundle over to the target to take a closer look with two contact tools mounted to its robotic arm: the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) and the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC).
Before PIXL and SHERLOC begin collecting data up close, the rover will use an abrading drill bit to flatten a small, circular spot on a target rock about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) wide, Williford said in a presentation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It’s almost like preparing a slide for analysis with a microscope. But because this creates a lot of dust, the rover’s turret also includes the Gaseous Dust Removal Tool, which shoots puffs of ultra-pure nitrogen that will help clear away any debris generated during the abrading process. After that, the site’s ready for up-close inspection with PIXL and SHERLOC.
The PIXL instrument has an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that reveals the specific elements embedded within a rock. “X-ray fluorescence is a technique that is considered to be the gold standard of measuring [the elemental] chemistry of rocks,” says Abigail Allwood, principal investigator of PIXL. “But having said that, it’s usually done in bulk.”