Abstract and subjects
In mid-2019, the SuperCam instrument was installed aboard NASA's Mars 2020 rover, which is scheduled for launch in July 2020 and a landing at Jezero crater in February 2021. SuperCam is a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL; the lead institution) and the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP), funded by the French Space Agency (CNES) and with contributions by universities and laboratories in France, Spain, and Denmark.
SuperCam integrates a number of observation techniques into a single instrument, which builds on the design heritage of ChemCam, a laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument aboard the Curiosity rover. While retaining ChemCam's LIBS mode, SuperCam adds a remote Raman spectroscopy mode, an infrared spectrometer (IR), a microphone, and improves upon ChemCam's greyscale context imager with a color imager.
This paper will give a broad overview of the SuperCam instrument, which is divided into three portions: the LANLbuilt SuperCam Body Unit (SCBU), the French-built SuperCam Mast Unit (SCMU), and the Spanish-built SuperCam Calibration Target (SCCT). The instrument operational modes will be detailed, explaining how the instrument as a whole is used to collect and process its data within the context of the Mars 2020 rover.
Next, we will detail LANL's design, integration, and testing of the SCBU. The SCBU is installed inside the rover's body and features an optical demultiplexer feeding a set of three spectrometers, which are digitized by three charge-coupled devices (CCDs) from e2v, controlled by a low-noise spectrometer electronics module. The longest-wavelength visible-range spectrometer employs high-throughput transmission optics and an image intensifier to amplify and electronically gate the incoming light in Raman mode. This transmission spectrometer is powered and controlled by a high voltage power supply, designed and built at LANL. A low voltage power supply converts rover power to voltages used by the instrument. The command and data handling (C&DH) module features a Leon-3-based processor and a field programmable gate array for custom logic, along with a memory array. Instrument flight software architecture will be presented, with a focus on the body unit and mast unit functionality divide. The test qualification scheme will be detailed, with information on instrument optical performance testing.