France on Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance Rover

News

16 March 2020

NASA’s next Mars rover has a new name: “Perseverance”. This name is reminiscent of its wheeled predecessors: Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. Long live Perseverance, which will be launched this summer from Cape Canaveral towards the red planet! “Perseverance” has a piercing eye, the laser of the SuperCam instrument that was specially built by the United States and France to study the geology of the soil and rocks of Mars. The instrument will help scientists in their search for early, fossilized signs of microbial life on the Red Planet. SuperCam’s powerful laser sprays very small amounts of rock from a distance, emitting a spark whose light is analyzed. The instrument thus provides essential information on the composition of Martian rocks.

SuperCam is located at the top of the @NASAPersevere mast. Consisting of 5 sub-instruments developed by the @LosAlamosNatLab and a consortium of laboratories led by the @IRAP_France, it will be operated alternately from the @CNES control center.

Further Resources

IRAP Contact

  • Sylvestre Maurice, sylvestre.maurice@irap.omp.eu

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