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DATA

2020 Mars Rover

Instrument: Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC)

NASA's Mars Rover 2020 Mission in Pictures (Gallery)

The Mars Oxygen In-situ resource utilization Experiment (MOXIE) will ingest the toxic Martian air and produce breathable oxygen from the carbon dioxide it contains. This is a proof-of-concept device, pointing the way for future astronauts’ life-support systems on Mars.

The mast-mounted Supercam images the surface and analyzes the chemical composition and mineralogy of the rocks. Supercam also detects the presence of organic compounds from a distance. Mastcam-Z is a 3D camera with a zoom capability.

The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for examining the fine-scale elemental composition of the Martian surface.

The Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX) is a ground-penetrating radar providing centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure beneath Mars’ surface..

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence of Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) spectroscope scans the ground with a laser to detect organic chemicals.

A small mast atop the rover contains a set of sensors called the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), measuring temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and the size and shape of wind-blown dust particles.

A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), one the instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. Located on the end of the rover's robotic arm, this instrument features an auto-focusing camera (pictured) that shoots black-and-white images used by SHERLOC's color camera, called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), to zero in on rock textures. SHERLOC also has a laser, which aims for the dead center of rock surfaces depicted in WATSON's images.

The laser uses a technique called Raman spectroscopy to detect minerals in microscopic rock features; that data is then superimposed on WATSON's images. These mineral maps help scientists determine which rock samples Perseverance should drill so that they can be sealed in metal tubes and left on the Martian surface for a future mission to return to Earth.

The calibration target for SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) an instrument on the end of the Perseverance Mars rover's 7-foot-long (3-meter-long) robotic arm, includes a geocaching target, spacesuit materials, and a slice of a Martian meteorite. Scientists rely on calibration targets to fine-tune instrument settings using materials with known properties.

The bottom row of this target features spacesuit materials that scientists will observe to see how they react over time to the irradiated Martian atmosphere. The first sample at left is polycarbonate for use in a helmet visor; inscribed with the address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it doubles as a geochache for the public. Other materials in the bottom row, from left: Vectran; Ortho-Fabric; Teflon; coated Teflon.

Top row, from left: aluminum gallium nitride on sapphire; a quartz diffuser; a slice of Martian meteorite; a maze for testing laser intensity; a separate aluminum gallium nitride on sapphire with different properties.