The Mars2020 mission is NASA’s latest flagship mission to Mars. The mission, scheduled to launch in July/August 2020, will land in an environment thought to have been habitable in the martian past and will characterize the site including understanding chemistry, looking for organics and search for potential biosignatures. During the in situ phase of the mission, at least 20 cores consisting of a wide variety of well-characterized samples will be collected in sealed containers for eventual return to earth on future missions. This systematic approach addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for the origin of life on Mars though combing in situ analysis with analysis in state-of-the-art terrestrial instruments.<br/><br/>The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is one of the seven payload elements on the Mars 2020 rover. It combines high resolution imaging with UV resonance Raman and native deep UV fluorescence spectroscopic maps to identify potential biosignatures and understand the aqueous history of Mars. The 100 micron 248.6 nm laser spot can be raster scanned across the surface to produce a chemical and organic maps of the sample.<br/><br/>With the combination of fluorescence and Raman, SHERLOC enables non-destructive, sub-picogram detection of organics and their spatial correlation to astrobiologically relevant minerals that are associated with aqueous chemistry and environments (e.g., carbonates, nitrates, phosphates, sulfates, etc.). These spatially correlated organic and mineral maps are an important component in differentiating between potential biogenicity, abiogenic formation, or meteoric infall. SHERLOC couples fine scale imaging with spectral maps that characterize the organic, chemical and minerals association over scales that match the texture and morphology scale associated to features that may have harbored and preserved microbial biosignatures. Finally, SHERLOC spectra can be combined with other measurements made by other payload elements, including elemental abundances measured by PIXL, an X-Ray fluorescence spectrometer.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) on Mars 2020

2019 Spring National Meeting

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