PASADENA >> An instrument that scientists hope will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide will be included in the Mars 2020 rover, a joint mission with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA announced Thursday.
In total, the agency selected seven instruments among the 58 proposals it received from researchers and engineers worldwide — twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past.
“The 2020 rover will help answer questions about the Martian environment that astronauts will face and test technologies they need before landing on, exploring and returning from the Red Planet,” spokesman William Gerstenmaier said in a statement. “Mars has resources needed to help sustain life, which can reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry.”
Development of the instruments will cost about $130 million, according to NASA. The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago.
The new rover will carry more sophisticated hardware and new instruments to conduct geological evaluations, determine potential habitability and search for signs of ancient Martian life. Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and choose a collection of soil and rock samples to be stored for potential return to Earth in a future mission.
The seven selected instruments are as follows:
• Mastcam-Z is an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging abilities and zooming capability. This tool will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and will help with the rover mission.
• SuperCam will provide imaging, chemical composition analysis and mineralogy. It will detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith.
• Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. It will have a high-resolution imager to determine the fine-scale elemental composition of the Martian surface.
• Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars. It will provide fine-scale imaging and use an ultraviolet laser to figure out fine-scale mineralogy and to detect organic compounds.
• The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) is a technology that could potentially produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) is a combination of sensors that will measure temperature, wind speed, direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape.
• The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX) is a ground-penetrating radar that will issue centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of Mars’ subsurface.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program seeks to understand Mars’ dynamic system — present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In tandem, NASA is developing the ability for the U.S. to send humans on round-trip missions to Mars in the 2030s.