NASA unveils new details about the high-powered instruments on Perseverance Mars rover

NASA has shared new details about the sensors used on the Perseverance rover as it travels the surface of Mars in search for signs of past microbial life. The instruments, a high powered camera and an ultraviolet laser, will work in tandem to take readings of the soil to help determine its chemical and mineral makeup. The main instrument, called SHERLOC (or Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), will be mounted on the end of one of the rover's robotic arms. NASA's Persevernce rover will travel across Mars using an ultraviolet laser to determine what minerals and compounds are present in the soil, based on the way the light scatters SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground, and scientists will measure the way the light scatters when it hits the ground to infer what kind of minerals and chemical compounds it's made of. The technique will also be used to identify the unique spectral'fingerprint' that certain organic material might give off in the hopes of tracking down potential signs of past life.