The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover’s SHERLOC instrument faced a significant issue in early 2024 when its dust cover and autofocus mechanism became inoperative. However, the resilient team behind SHERLOC refused to give up and, through tireless efforts, restored the instrument’s functionality, leading to a groundbreaking discovery of potential organic compounds in the Jezero crater. This blog post explores the journey of the SHERLOC team, their perseverance, and the implications of this exciting finding for our understanding of Mars’ past and the search for signs of life. Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, Jezero crater
SHERLOC Instrument Revived with Help from Loupe Human-IntheBox Overcoming Adversity
The NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover was not only an important mission in terms of finding indications of life on the red planet but was also greatly hampered by a challenge encountered by its SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument in January 2024. But it was knocked out of commission by a motor problem in the instrument preventing the dust cover and autofocus system from operating, leaving an essential part of its Raman spectrometry suite unusable.
But the rugged operations team of SHERLOC, with assistance from the Mars 2020 rover driver, refused to quit. THAT, after a lot of trial and error, many rounds of diagnostic tests, and no shortage of elbow grease to troubleshoot the cause and bring the SHERLOC instrument back online in June 2024. With grit and tenacity, they found a way to focus optics and work SHERLOC with the dust cover open — an achievement in Mars’ tough conditions.
BREAKING: Possible Organics Found on Mars in the Jezero Crater.
The team eventually saw the result of its work pay off in July 2044 at the Jezero crater, when SHERLOC obtained types calibrations, scans and observations with its Raman capability by measuring a rock named “Cheyava Falls”. The discovery was significant to the team because they were able to produce the most intriguing evidence yet of organics — all of which can arise from biological and non-biological processes.
But their discovery in Cheyava Falls helps lends even more weight to the significance of these organics, and where they came from will be subject to future testing, once scientists return some of those samples back to labs on Earth. The findings are significant to the Mars science community and it’s believed this non-complex organic matter may contain clues about what is going on under the surface at Mars, including current or past carbon chemistry. Which places the discovery at a highly significant and promising point in the search for evidence of ancient or modern Martian life, says NASA.
Unlocking Mars Secrets: The Power Behind Never Giving Up and the Unstoppable Nature of Team Work
With every stumbling block it must navigate, such as the ones hindering the SHERLOC instrument, comes an illuminating reminder: The mission to explore Mars is not merely a technological adventure for new science, but also an enterprise in human endurance and cooperation.
The tenacity of the SHERLOC team—its refusal to accept defeat even when facing new and unexpected challenges—is inspiring. Please, hear me: Their tale is evidence that change is possible in the shape of progress, even under duress; if only with a collective will. Mars 2020 has that same spirit of perseverance, and above all, it is what will keep us learning about the mysteries of the Red Planet and in our quest for questions on life on a planetary scale.
