SHERLOC Archives

This image of NASA’s Perseverance rover gathering data on the “Walhalla Glades” abrasion was taken in the “Bright Angel” region of Jezero Crater by one of the rover’s front hazard avoidance cameras on June 14. The WATSON camera on the SHERLOC instrument is closest to the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

Perseverance Mars Rover Team Revives The SHERLOC Astrobiology Instrument

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

After six months of effort, an instrument that helps the Mars rover look for potential signs of ancient microbial life has come back online.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemistry (SHERLOC) and Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) sulfate mineral compositions from the Quartier abrasion (SHERLOC sol 293). (a) Colorized ACI image of the analyzed region. The cyan boxes indicate the SHERLOC scan points where sulfate phases were detected at SNR ≥10. Cyan circles within each box indicate the position and size of the SHERLOC laser spot. The yellow polygon indicates the area of the PIXL scan on sol 294. (b) PIXL maps of SO3 abundance (left) and MgO, CaO, and FeO abundances (right). (c) Heat maps of sulfate ν1 peak positions and of hydration quotients (HQ, see text for how this was calculated). The heat maps for all abrasions have the same color scale (cf. Figures 3-6). The analysis spot with a fluorescence signal is indicated by a black star in the HQ map (the solid star indicates high fluorescence >5,000 counts). (d) Representative SHERLOC Raman spectra from Ca-, and Mg-rich areas in the PIXL elemental map. Points 15 and 34 are indicated by the bold black and gray outlines, respectively, in panel (c). The regions where sulfate ν1 and hydration features can be found are indicated by gray shading. Insets show details of the main sulfate peaks of each spectrum, which have here been normalized to the same sulfate ν1 peak height for ease of comparison, and of the hydration bands, which are not normalized. The vertical dashed lines indicate the fitted center for the ν1 peak of each spectrum. Other important peak centers are indicated. -- University of Cincinnati

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Evidence Of Hydrothermal Systems Discovered On Mars Using Perseverance

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2024February 23, 2024

In the three years since NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, the NASA science team has made the daily task of investigating the red planet seem almost mundane.

NASA’s Perseverance puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in a set of images captured in June and July 2022 by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera system. SHERLOC is mounted on the end of the arm. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report

SHERLOC Dust Cover Issues On Mars Perseverance Astrobiology Rover

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2024February 15, 2024

Engineers are working to stabilize a dust cover on one of the science instrument’s cameras.

annotated representation of the 13 sample tubes containing rock-core samples larger image

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Cored Samples Aboard Mars Perseverance At Sol 1,000

by Keith CowingDecember 21, 2023December 17, 2023

Shown here is an annotated representation of the 13 sample tubes containing rock-core samples that are being carried aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover as of Dec. 12, 2023, when the mission […]

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

New Perseverance Rover Research Provides More Signs Of Possible Organic Molecules On Mars

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2023July 19, 2023

Little green men it isn’t — but a new study co-led by a Pitt PhD candidate shows the potential for a variety of carbon-based molecules in a crater on Mars. […]

a, High Resolution Imaging ScienceExperiment (HiRISE) image of the region studied with the rover’s traverse marked in white, the boundary between the Séítah and Máaz fm delineated by the light blue line, and each rock target labelled. Scale bar, 100 m. b, Average number of fluorescence detections (out of 1,296 points) from survey scans for each target interrogated by SHERLOC, arranged in order of observation. *The acquisition conditions were different for dust-covered natural targets as compared to relatively dust-free abraded targets, possibly resulting in reduced detections. c, WATSON images of natural (red box) and abraded targets (Máaz is the blue box, Séítah is the green box) analysed in this study, with SHERLOC survey scan footprints outlined in white. Two survey scans were performed on Guillaumes, Dourbes and Quartier. Sol 141 imaging on Foux had an incomplete overlap of WATSON imaging and SHERLOC spectroscopy mapping. Scale bars, 5 mm. -- Nature

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release

A New Study Reveals Evidence Of Diverse Organic Material On Mars

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2023July 13, 2023

A new study featuring data from the NASA Mars Perseverance rover reports on an instrumental detection potentially consistent with organic molecules on the Martian surface, hinting toward past habitability of […]

This close-up view of a rock target named “Dourbes” was provided by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the robotic arm aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. WATSON took a series of eight fully-shadowed images on Nov. 5, 2021, the 253rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission, and the images were subsequently merged to create this view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

(Tricorder News): SHERLOC Observes Potential Organic Signatures In Jezero Crater On Mars

by Keith CowingJuly 12, 2023July 12, 2023

Scientists are getting a closer look of potential organic signatures in Martian rocks and may have found evidence of key building blocks of life preserved within two potentially habitable paleo-depositional […]

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Possible Organic Compounds Have Been Found In Martian Crater Rocks

by Keith CowingNovember 24, 2022November 24, 2022

A study published in Science analyses multiple rocks found at the bottom of Jezero Crater on Mars, where the Perseverance rover landed in 2020, revealing significant interaction between the rocks […]

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release

Perseverance Rover Conducts Astrobiology And Geology Exploration On Mars

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2022April 14, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance rover is well into its second science campaign, collecting rock-core samples from features within an area long considered by scientists to be a top prospect for finding signs […]