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If you’ve invested whenever browsing the carousel of raw images from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, you may have come across an odd topic: a small, elaborate labyrinth engraved into a little plate, photographed over and over once again.
Why is the Perseverance rover so consumed with this little maze? It ends up the labyrinth is a calibration target– among & 10 for Perseverance’s Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals instrument, otherwise understood for its enjoyable acronym, SHERLOC.
This Sherlock Holmes– motivated tool is created to spot natural substances and other minerals on Mars that might show indications of ancient microbial life. To do that properly, the system should be thoroughly adjusted, which’s where the labyrinth is available in.
Found on the rover’s seven-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm, SHERLOC utilizes spectroscopic methods– particularly Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy– to evaluate Martian rocks. In order to guarantee precise measurements, it needs to consistently adjust its tools utilizing a set of recommendation products with particular residential or commercial properties. These are installed on a plate connected to the front of the rover’s body: the SHERLOC Calibration Target.
“The calibration targets serve multiple purposes, which primarily include refining the SHERLOC wavelength calibration, calibrating the SHERLOC laser scanner mirror, and monitoring the focus and state of health of the laser,” Kyle Uckert, deputy principal detective for SHERLOC at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, informs Space.com
The target is organized in 2 rows, each occupied with little spots of thoroughly picked products.
The leading row consists of 3 vital calibration products: aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) on sapphire discs; the UV-scattering product Diffusil; and Martian meteorite SaU008, whose mineral makeup is currently understood and assists line up wavelength calibration with genuine Martian geology.
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A Perseverance rover[“selfie” revealing the area of the SHERLOC Calibration Target. : An image of the complete SHERLOC Calibration Target. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
This is likewise where you’ll discover the labyrinth. Why a labyrinth? “SHERLOC is all about solving puzzles, and what better puzzle than a maze!” states Uckert. The function of the labyrinth target is to adjust the positioning of the laser scanner mirror and define the laser’s focus, which needs a target with greatly contrasting spectral reactions. The labyrinth serves this function well.”
The maze is made of chrome-plated lines just 200 microns thick (about twice the width of a human hair) printed onto silica glass. “There are no duplicating patterns and the spectrum of the chrome plating stands out from the underlying silica glass,” says Uckert. That makes it possible to measure the laser’s focus and accuracy with extreme precision.
Related: NASA rover discovers out-of-place ‘Skull’ on Mars, and scientists are baffled
If you look closely at the maze, you’ll also notice a Sherlock Holmes portrait right at the center. While it’s a cheeky nod to the instrument’s name, it serves a practical function. “SHERLOC spectral maps can deal with the 200 micron thick chrome plated lines and the 50 micron thick shape of Sherlock Holmes at the center of the labyrinth,” Uckert notes.
Like the portrait, the bottom half of the SHERLOC Calibration Target also serves a dual purpose: spectral instrument calibration and spacesuit material testing. It contains five samples of materials used in modern spacesuits, including some materials you might be familiar with, like Teflon, Gore-Tex, and Kevlar. And don’t miss the “enjoyable” target in this row– there’s a geocache marker backing a polycarbonate target, and it does certainly have a tie-in to Sherlock Holmes.
A close-up of the labyrinth on the Perseverance rover’s SHERLOC Calibration Target. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
These products are actively being evaluated under Mars conditions to figure out how they hold up in time in situ, which is vital for preparing human expedition of the Red Planet. “Note that we utilize all of these products to tweak SHERLOC,” adds Uckert. “As a benefit, the spacesuit products support special science that will assist keep future astronauts safe.”
Now, if all these Sherlock Holmes– associated Easter eggs on the SHERLOC Calibration Target aren’t enough for you, there’s one last link. SHERLOC has a color cam as part of its instrumentation suite that often images the target, and it’s called the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering.
Yes, SHERLOC’s partner is called WATSON.
This short article was initially released on Space.com.
Space.com contributing author Stefanie Waldek is a self-taught area geek and air travel geek who is enthusiastic about all things spaceflight and astronomy. With a background in travel and style journalism, along with a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, she concentrates on the budding area tourist market and Earth-based astrotourism. In her leisure time, you can discover her seeing rocket launches or searching for at the stars, questioning what is out there. Discover more about her work at www.stefaniewaldek.com.
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