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Photos: Spencer Lowell, SAM Photo Courtesy of NASA
A rock-vaporizing laser. Miniaturized chemical analyzers. A flying crane. As NASA prepares to launch the Mars Science Laboratory, a rover that will “follow the water” and pursue potential signs of life on Mars, international teams are tricking it out with a new set of scientific instruments that can analyze data in real time as the rover moves across the surface. Since future NASA funding is up in the air and the rest of the planetary science community is arguing that other targets in the solar system are long overdue, MSL may be the agency’s last chance for several years to get wheels back on the rocky red ground. It’s a $2.5 billion gamble that aims to redefine our understanding of habitability in the universe. So engineers are making sure MSL has the right tools for the job.
1 Sample Analysis at Mars Mass is money, but this instrument is important enough to make up more than half of the scientific payload. The SAM tests the air and the soil, looking for elements associated with life, including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. SAM contains both a mass and laser spectrometer and a gas chromatograph—a lab’s worth of analytical might packed into a couple of cubic feet.
2 ChemCam A laser on the rover’s mast will vaporize rock up to 23 feet away, and a camera will zoom in to capture the light signature from the resulting plasma. Spectrographs in the rover’s body assess the chemical composition of the rock so scientists can determine whether the target is worthy of examination.
3 Mastcam A pair of cameras is affixed to a pole that rises up out of the rover so the high-end optics can capture the Martian surface in 3-D. The rover’s imaging systems can now resolve details better than the human eye and see color and texture with just as much fidelity. HD color videos will catch dust devils (or little green men) in action.
4 Radiation Assessment Detector As successful as NASA’s robotic explorers have been over the last decade, the long-term goal is to send humans to the Red Planet. The Radiation Assessment Detector can help by measuring harmful radiation, from protons to alpha particles to gamma rays. Researchers can then create a catalog of risks that could shape future manned missions.
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