Ocean Optics - Inventor of the World's First Miniature Spectrometer
Ocean Optics - Inventor of the World's First Miniature Spectrometer
Ocean Optics - Inventor of the World's First Miniature Spectrometer
Ocean Optics Spectrometers Land Safely
on Mars
Curiosity Rover with Ocean Optics
instruments onboard survives rigorous descent to surface of the
red planet
Dunedin, FL (August 5, 2012) – Three
Ocean Optics instruments have completed their eight month
journey to Mars to study soil composition as part of the ChemCam
mission. NASA’s Mars Science Lab rover, Curiosity, launched in
November with customized Ocean Optics HR2000 spectrometers.
The Curiosity Rover has the most advanced scientific
instrumentation ever used to study the surface of Mars, and
weighing in at 1 ton, has the heaviest payload. The 7 minute
descent through Mars’ atmosphere relied on a complex landing
sequence never before attempted. To withstand the rigors of
space travel and descent, the onboard Ocean Optics spectrometers
were modified to handle extreme temperature ranges, radiation,
shock and vibration.
After 14 tense minutes of waiting (the amount of time it takes
for a signal to reach NASA’s mission control from Mars), NASA
was able to confirm that Curiosity survived the descent intact.
Shortly after, it beamed back the first pictures from the
surface of the Gale Crater where it landed. Now, the work begins
for the Ocean Optics spectrometers as the rover journeys to
Mount Sharp, a 3 mile high mountain inside the crater,
collecting data as it goes.
The three modular HR2000 high-resolution miniature fiber optic
spectrometers will study Martian rock and soil composition using
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS).
Each ChemCam spectrometer is configured
to detect elemental signatures over a different wavelength of
light: 240-336 nm, 380-470 nm, and 470-850 nm. The use of the
three spectrometers simplifies the design and creates
redundancy, as many elements under study have spectral lines in
more than one of the spectral ranges covered by the three units.
