The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

On the NASA 2020 rover mission to Jezero crater, the remote determination of the texture, mineralogy and chemistry of rocks is essential to quickly and thoroughly characterize an area and to optimize the selection of samples for return to Earth. As part of the Perseverance payload, SuperCam is a suite of five techniques that provide critical and complementary observations via Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Time-Resolved Raman and Luminescence (TRR/L), visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VISIR), high-resolution color imaging (RMI), and acoustic recording (MIC). SuperCam operates at remote distances, primarily 2-7 m, while providing data at sub-mm to mm scales. We report on SuperCam's science objectives in the context of the Mars 2020 mission goals and ways the different techniques can address these questions. The instrument is made up of three separate subsystems: the Mast Unit is designed and built in France; the Body Unit is provided by the United States; the calibration target holder is contributed by Spain, and the targets themselves by the entire science team. This publication focuses on the design, development, and tests of the Mast Unit; companion papers describe the other units. The goal of this work is to provide an understanding of the technical choices made, the constraints that were imposed, and ultimately the validated performance of the flight model as it leaves Earth, and it will serve as the foundation for Mars operations and future processing of the data.In France was provided by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Human resources were provided in part by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and universities. Funding was provided in the US by NASA's Mars Exploration Program. Some funding of data analyses at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was provided by laboratory-directed research and development funds

The marbll experiment: towards a martian wind lidar

Operating a lidar on Mars would fulfill the need of accessing wind and aerosol profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer. This is the purpose of the MARs Boundary Layer Lidar (MARBLL) instrument. We report recent developments of this compact direct-detection wind lidar designed to operate from the surface of Mars. A new laser source has been developed and an azimuthal scanning capability has been added. Preliminary results of a field campaign are presented

The marbll experiment: towards a martian wind lidar

International audienceOperating a lidar on Mars would address the crucial need of monitoring wind and aerosol profiles in the boundary layer. We report recent developments of a compact direct-detection wind lidar designed to be accomodated on landed platforms or rovers. A new laser source has been developed and an azimutal scanning capability has been added. Preliminary results of a field campaign are presented. The lessons learnt from this campaign in view of putative lidar measurements on Mars are also discussed

PHEBUS UV spectrometer on board ESA-BepiColombo Mission: Instrument design & performance results

International audienceBepiColombo, a cornerstone mission of European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will explore Mercury the planet closest to the Sun. This first European mission toward Mercury will be launched in October 2018 from the Guiana Space Centre, on a journey lasting up to six and a half years. The data that will be brought back from the two orbiters will tell us about Mercury's surface, the atmospheric composition, and the magnetospheric dynamics; it will also contribute to understanding the history and formation of terrestrial planets. Probing of Hermean Exosphere by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy (PHEBUS) is a double spectrometer that will be flown on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) one of the two BepiColombo orbiters. This French-led instrument was developed with the purpose of detecting emission lines from Mercury's exosphere to reveal its composition and distribution, in the wide UV range 55 nm-315 nm and by recording full spectra. In this paper, we present the instrument design by focusing on the optical subsystems and giving a technical feedback of the major challenges we had to face. We also introduce the calibration philosophy and the main performance results of the instrument

PHEBUS on Bepi-Colombo: Post-launch Update and Instrument Performance

International audienceThe Bepi-Colombo mission was launched in October 2018, headed for Mercury. This mission is a collaboration between Europe and Japan. It is dedicated to the study of Mercury and its environment. It will be inserted into Mercury orbit in December 2025 after a 7-year long cruise. Probing of Hermean Exosphere By Ultraviolet Spectroscopy (PHEBUS) is an ultraviolet Spectrograph and is one of the 11 instruments on-board the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). It is dedicated to the study of the exosphere of Mercury, its composition, dynamics and variability and its interface with the surface of the planet and the solar wind. The PHEBUS instrument contains four distinct detectors covering the spectral range from 55 nm up to 315 nm and two additional narrow windows at 404 nm and 422 nm. It also has a one-degree of freedom mechanism that allows observations along a cone with an half angle of 80∘ 80 ∘ . This paper follows a detailed presentation of the PHEBUS instrument design that was presented by Chassefière et al. (Planet. Space Sci. 58:201–223, 2010). Here we present an update of the science objectives and measurement requirements following the results published by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission. We also present results of the ground calibration campaigns of the flight unit that is currently on-board MPO. In the last part, we present some details of the observations that will be performed during the cruise to Mercury, such as stellar observation campaigns, interplanetary background observations and planetary flybys

Gas-Chromatographic analysis of Mars soil samples with the SAM instrument onboard Curiosity - the 180 first sols

International audienceAmongst the SAM suite of instruments [1], SAM-GC (Gas Chromatograph) is devoted to identify and quantify volatiles evolved from the thermal/chemical treatment of any soil sample collected by the Curiosity rover. The first soil samples analyzed with SAM were composed of sand collected at the Rocknest site, when the second site analyzed was a basin called "Yellowkive Bay". For their analysis, these samples were submitted to a pyrolysis at temperatures reaching about 900°C. For SAM-GC and GCMS analyses, different fractions of pyrolysates were collected at different temperature in the ambient-900°C range in order to discriminate potential different volatile fractions present in the solid sample.With the aim to search for potential organic molecules outgassed from the samples, a SAM-GC analytical channel composed of thermal-desorption injector and a MXT-CLP chromatographic column was used as it was designed for the separation of a wide range of volatile organic molecules. This channel is also equipped with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) capable to detect the most abundant species (with abundances down to approximately 10-10 mol). It is thus complementary to the mass spectrometer detection for quantification of such species as this last instrument has not a linear response in this domain of high abundance, whereas it is significantly more sensitive than the TCD. The results obtained with this instrument first show that the performances of SAM-GC are representative of those obtained during calibrations of the instrument in laboratory, as well as they are repeatable. Hence, the instrument performs nominally, making it the first GCMS running successfully on Mars since the Viking missions. Moreover, the complementarity of GC towards MS is also shown, either by allowing the quantification ofthe major species detected (as water), or by providing a chromatographic signal well resolved temporally which can be used to improve the QMS signal treatment.In the frame of research of organics, the SAM-GC analyses contribute to the identification of several methyl-chlorohydrocarbons, and of HCN in the gases evolved from the solid sample. These detections strongly support the presence of perchlorates in the Rocknest soil. Since perchlorates have been detected with Phoenix lander [2] and then recently with Curiosity, the re-interpretation of the Viking data have to be seen under a new angle [3]. The nondetection of PAHs is also interesting to notice, when it is known that micrometeorites containing PAHs still bring this organic material to the Mars surface today. This lack of detection defines an upper limit on the content of PAHs in the martian soil at the sites studied by Curiosity, but it could also be indicative of the presence of chemical mechanisms that process this type of material at the surface

Initial Performances/Observations/Results of the SAM Gas Chromatograph (SAM-GC) at Rocknest Site

International audienceHow the French contribution (a gas chromatograph) to the SAM suite of instruments is working at Mars, and how it is addressing the quest for organic matter

The SuperCam infrared spectrometer for the perseverance rover of the Mars2020 mission

International audienceWe present the Infrared spectrometer of SuperCam Instrument Suite that enables the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover to study remotely the Martian mineralogy within the Jezero crater. The SuperCam IR spectrometer is designed to acquire spectra in the 1.3–2.6 µm domain at a spectral resolution ranging from 5 to 20 nm. The field-of-view of 1.15 mrad, is coaligned with the boresights of the other remote-sensing techniques provided by SuperCam: laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, remote time-resolved Raman and luminescence spectroscopies, and visible reflectance spectroscopy, and micro-imaging. The IR spectra can be acquired from the robotic-arm workspace to long-distances, in order to explore the mineralogical diversity of the Jezero crater, guide the Perseverance Rover in its sampling task, and to document the samples’ environment. We present the design, the performance, the radiometric calibration, and the anticipated operations at the surface of Mars