PIA24208: SuperCam Mast Unit


SuperCam Mast Unit

Caption:

SuperCam's mast unit before being installed atop the Perseverance rover's remote sensing mast. SuperCam fires a laser at rock or soil targets up to 20 feet (7 meters) away, and then analyzes the vaporized rock to reveal the composition. SuperCam's telescope peers out through a window seen on the right side of the unit, above a microphone (hidden by a red protective cover in this image), which will pick up the sounds of rocks being vaporized by the laser. The electronics are inside the gold-plated box on the left. The end of the laser peeks out from behind the left side of the electronics.

Background Info:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and will manage operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars 2020
Instrument Host Perseverance
Host Type Rover
Instrument SuperCam
Detector
Extra Keywords Color
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2021-01-20
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24208
Identifier PIA24208