Since NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars last February 18 as part of the $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission, it has shown the world its capability as a rover alongside the Ingenuity helicopter that conducted its flight tests Red Planet.
As the rover enters the science phase of its Mars mission, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has shared a video update on what more it can do to achieve its goals on Mars.
The video highlighted the rover's SuperCam, a high-tech camera that can vaporize rocks even from 23 feet away. This advancement helps scientists know the composition and origins of the rock.
First Laser Sound of Perseverance's SuperCam
Mars 2020 mission members announced on March 10 that NASA's Perseverance rover had started its rock-zapping SuperCam instrument on the Red Planet, Space.com reported.
The gentle whoosh of the Martian wind and the not-so-gentle snaps of the laser vaporizing some rocks was recorded using the built-in microphone of the SuperCam.
"These recordings have demonstrated that our microphone is not only functioning well, but we also have a very high-quality signal for our scientific studies," SuperCam team member Naomi Murdoch, a researcher at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace in Toulouse, France, said during a live webcast last March.
Murdoch added that the SuperCam team is extremely excited about the perspectives and the possible scientific investigations in the future that they are going to do with the data from the high-tech camera's microphone.
The microphone has played a significant role in the Mars 2020 mission as it was used to listen to the Ingenuity helicopter as it performs its test flights on the Red Planet.
Perseverance Rover's SuperCam Shoots Laser at 23 Feet Away
The latest Youtube video shared by NASA's JPL showed the high-tech tools that the SuperCam has at its disposal to send data back to Earth. Hemani Kalucha, the science payload uplink lead for SuperCam, explains that the SuperCam's ability to vaporize rocks at 23 feet away is valuable to the rover and scientists who will interpret and use the data.
The fact that SuperCam could simply target a rock and zap it with laser ensures that the rover's science phase is conducted even when the Perseverance rover is not near the rocks it wants to study, BGR reported. It makes it easier and faster as well since sending commands to Mars from Earth would take from about 5 minutes up to 20 minutes.
The SuperCam's laser could vaporize the rocks into small bits while its infrared sensors collect information on the composition of the rock. This information is highly valuable as it reveals the origin of the rock that covers the Martian surface while also show the natural forces that may have contributed to its formation, such as water on ancient Mars.
Perseverance is expected to have more years ahead of it as it continues to explore the Red Planet. Scientists and astronomy enthusiasts await the exciting things it will be able to accomplish and discover on Mars in the coming years.
RELATED ARTICLE: Perseverance Finds Weird Green Rock on Mars, Can Scientists Identify It?
Check out more news and information on Perseverance Rover on Science Times.
