SHERLOC
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NASA
Old Glory on the Red Planet
The United States flag adorns an aluminum plate mounted at the base of the mast, or “head,” of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. This image of the plate was taken on June 28, 2025 (the 1,548th day, or sol, of the mission), by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm. WATSON,…
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NASA
Smooshing for Science: A Flat-Out Success
Written by Henry Manelski, Ph.D. student at Purdue University The Perseverance team is always looking for creative ways to use the tools we have on Mars to maximize the science we do. On the arm of the rover sits the SHERLOC instrument, which specializes in detecting organic compounds and is crucial in our search for signs of past microbial life. But…
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NASA
Looking Out for ‘Lookout Hill’
At Pico Turquino, a bedrock mesa on the Jezero crater rim, the science and engineering teams planned proximity science on Percy’s 30th abrasion patch, Rio Chiquito. SCAM and ZCAM characterized the rock near the abrasion, while SHERLOC and PIXL instruments were deployed for proximity science. The data from Rio Chiquito will help characterize the Pico Turquino area in addition to helping…
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NASA
Perseverance Matters
In January 2024, the SHERLOC instrument aboard NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover encountered a significant issue. A fault in the instrument’s motor caused the dust cover and autofocus mechanism to become inoperative, putting the rover’s SHERLOC Raman spectroscopy capability at risk. Although Mars had posed an unexpected challenge, members of the SHERLOC operations team working together with the rover engineers refused to give up. Fortunately,…
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NASA
Team Assessing SHERLOC Instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Rover
Engineers are working to stabilize a dust cover on one of the science instrument’s cameras. Data and imagery from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover indicate one of two covers that keep dust from accumulating on the optics of the SHERLOC instrument remains partially open. In this position, the cover interferes with science data collection operations. Mounted on the rover’s robotic arm, SHERLOC (Scanning…
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