Photo credit: The SETI Institute
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured an image of a bizarre donut-shaped rock at the Jezero Crater using its SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager. This instrument basically utilizes remote optical measurements and laser spectroscopy to determine fine-scale mineralogy, chemistry, and atomic / molecular composition of samples encountered on the Red Planet.
The SETI Institute claims that this strange rock could be just a large meteorite with smaller fragments scattered around it. Whatever the case may be, Perseverance’s Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) can use its a 1064-nm laser to further investigate targets up to 7 meters (approximately 23 feet) in distance from the rover.
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SuperCam uses its microphone to study wind and turbulence in Mars’ thin atmosphere. It uses the laser zap sounds and the Ingenuity helicopter to study how sound is transmitted in this alien atmosphere. SuperCam also uses the sound of the laser plasma on the rocks to determine their hardness and detect surface coatings,” said NASA.
