Using NASA’s , a team of scientists including several from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa, discovered that Jezero Crater is largely made up of igneous (formed by volcanic magma) rock, rather than sedimentary rock; and that water has altered minerals in the crater floor rock. This discovery will help determine when water existed on Mars, and ultimately, whether the red planet was ever habitable to microbial life.

Researcher Shiv Sharma, assistant researcher Tayro Acosta-Maeda and graduate student Evan Kelly, all based at the in (SOEST), are co-authors on two recently published studies in and .

The rock and mineral analysis was done by SuperCam, an instrument that uses a focused infrared laser beam to remove dust and material from rock surfaces in a technique called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. The energy burst from each five-nanosecond pulse creates a flash; its optical spectrum (specific colors) reveals the elemental chemistry of targets up to about 25 feet away.

“This finding of igneous rock is a surprise,” said Sharma, a co-investigator on the SuperCam instrument team. “It also shows the power of spectroscopic instruments on the Perseverance rover at the crater floor rather than just imaging from a spacecraft from above.”

Related: More stories from UH researchers on the Mars rover team

The crater where Perseverance landed in 2021 held water billions of years ago. For that reason, scientists predicted that rock in the area would be sedimentary, formed over time from settled mud, which would be the case for lake beds on Earth. Discovering that rock in Jezero was formed by volcanic magma was unexpected. However, it has its advantages. Igneous rock is easier to date and could give researchers a more accurate way to estimate when Mars had water.

The search for life is one of Perseverance’s main goals and one of the reasons it landed in Jezero Crater. Discovering the potential for habitable environments in something as uninhabitable as Jezero Crater’s aged lava flows raises hopes for what lies in the sedimentary rocks the mission is examining now.

“The water we found and will likely find in the ancient delta rocks will help us unveil how Mars became what it is today, and whether it could have been habitable, when, for how long, and if it could host life,” said Acosta-Maeda, a participating scientist on the SuperCam instrument team.

Rocks returning to Earth

The rocks the scientists analyzed have been stored for return to Earth. NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to return the rock samples to Earth around 2033. The ambitious plan requires building the first vehicle that can launch from the surface of Mars and rendezvous with an orbiter that ferries the samples back to Earth.

The payoff for that herculean task will be highly detailed studies of the rock samples that cannot be performed on the rover. These studies include measuring the age of the rocks and looking for signs of ancient life. Because the rock samples taken at the bottom of the crater likely predate the river delta, dating these rocks will provide critical information about the age of the lake.

The rover is now surveying the river delta to collect additional rock samples for the Mars Sample Return mission.

–By Marcie Grabowski

University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa scientists are currently exploring Mars via a car-sized robot known as the rover. Perseverance is the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to the Red Planet, and the Mars 2020 team are helping acquire samples of rocks from its landing site, the floor of Jezero Crater, for return to Earth by a future mission.

After collecting samples and characterizing the lithology (the types of rocks) of the crater’s floor, Perseverance will head West to investigate the deposits of an ancient river delta, which formed early in Mars’ history when the crater contained a lake.

“When we’ve finished in this particular area, we’re going to head over to the delta front,” said Sarah Fagents, a researcher at UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (HIGP) and volcanologist with the camera team. “Those deposits were laid down in a lake environment, and they might be the location of some of the best potential biosignatures, which is the key driver of this mission, to seek out the signs of [ancient] life.”

• Related UH News story: UH scientists begin new chapter in Mars exploration, February 19, 2021

Returning a sample of a lava flow or ash deposit would allow researchers to date the sample and determine an age for those deposits, which in turn allows them to more accurately date other surfaces on Mars, through a technique known as .

“If we can find a lava flow or an ash deposit in Jezero, we can sample that deposit and bring back a sample to Earth in the future. And in our labs on Earth, we can date radiometrically (test) those samples and get an absolute age constraint on the deposits of Jezero Crater,” said Fagents.

Driving on Mars

The team has been using a newly enhanced auto navigation system, which allows the rover to drive on its own. Auto navigation makes 3D maps of the terrain ahead, identifies hazards and plans a route around any obstacles without additional direction from controllers back on Earth.

Using auto navigation allows the rover to drive longer distances in a day so the team can explore more of the terrain and acquire samples of diverse rock types.

“The auto navigation on the rover means that we can drive farther in a single sol, which is a martian day, which is really useful for this mission because we’re on a tight schedule to explore as much of the crater as we can,” said Eleni Ravanis, a HIGP PhD student and also a member of the Mastcam-Z team.

First 180 martian sols

After landing on Mars in February, the first 100 Martian sols were devoted to instrument checkouts, helicopter operations and initial science observations. The rover traveled short distances to test drive and instrument capabilities, drop off shields and covers, and deploy the helicopter for its historic flights. Since then, researchers have been working on their first science campaign devoted to acquiring samples, characterizing rocks and investigating the crater floor deposits.

“It’s so exciting to be able to see, for the first time, places that we’ve only seen from orbit before. So these are places that we’ve never seen close up, no one has seen close up before,” said Ravanis. “So it’s always really exciting to get these images back and share it with the team.”

UH cutting-edge research

This mission is the first stage of an international, multi-agency, decade-plus long to bring samples from Mars back to Earth. Involvement in missions like Mars 2020 enhances the reputation of UH as an R1 research university, which continues to conduct cutting-edge research at the forefront of space exploration.

Work on the Mars 2020 mission contributes to the broader range of exciting research and educational initiatives in Earth, planetary and space sciences at UH. Research directly benefits the education of undergraduate students, providing programs such as HIGP’s , and the College of Engineering’s , which are taught by faculty with experience in instrument design, active missions and analysis of Earth and planetary data sets.

These programs are training the future workforce in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±ʻ¾±â€™s growing aerospace industry, and equipping students with the skills needed to address key problems faced by the state and nation.

This work is an example of UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

The first Mars sounds and images via SuperCam, an instrument located on top of the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, were presented in an on March 10 via YouTube. University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa researcher Shiv Sharma is a co-investigator on the SuperCam instrument team.

This was the first opportunity for the and to show SuperCam data to the public, with the first half of the press conference in French and the second half in English. SuperCam is currently undergoing a series of tests designed to verify the operating status of all of its systems, part of an overall rover check-out phase which will last about three months.

“We all at UH were thrilled to hear the first sounds and see the first images of rocks on Mars taken by SuperCam,” said Sharma, at the . “In the next three months, we are looking forward to more discoveries, especially if the SuperCam finds past life on Mars’ surface.”

• Related UH News story: UH scientists begin new chapter in Mars exploration, February 19, 2021

The SuperCam instrument team will assist with detection of biosignatures—indicators that life existed in the distant past. The team will be able to detect organic compounds and biosignatures from a distance on and in rocks, soils and sediment layers on Mars.

SuperCam is a suite of instruments that uses remote optical measurements and laser spectroscopy to determine fine-scale mineralogy, chemistry, and atomic and molecular composition of samples encountered on Mars.

“The successful landing of the Mars 2020 rover during this pandemic has captured the attention of people around the world, and has restored the confidence in science and technology,” said Sharma. “At UH, it is creating enthusiasm among undergraduate and graduate students showing that they could one day participate in the field of planetary science as well as solving the problems of our home planet Earth.”

This event is an example of UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

scientists watched live via NASA TV as Perseverance, the , successfully landed on the red planet as they prepared to operate the scientific instruments.

Following six years of design, testing and development, UH Mānoa scientists and graduate students who are , will now begin the next chapter in the search for signs of ancient life on Mars.

• Related UH News stories
  • Search for signs of ancient life on Mars begins with rover landing [VIDEO], February 14, 2021
  • UH scientists to search for ancient life with Mars 2020 rover, July 29, 2020

“There is a collective sigh of relief today after Perseverance made a successful journey and landing,” said Shiv Sharma, a researcher at UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (HIGP) in the (SOEST) and member of the team. “Now the work begins to find signs of ancient life in the Jezero Crater.”

Perseverance is loaded with scientific instruments the teams will use to search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterize the planet’s geology and climate, and collect carefully selected rock and sediment samples for possible return to Earth.

The rover’s landing site, Jezero Crater, once contained a lake that scientists think is one of the most ideal places to find evidence of ancient life.

Sarah Fagents, HIGP researcher and volcanologist with the camera team, will distinguish volcanic rocks from sedimentary deposits, determine what the rock features indicate about the history of Martian volcanic eruptions and assist in determining outcrops that deserve a closer look with the other instruments.

Operating on Mars time

For at least the first 90 Martian days, Fagents will have a demanding schedule—operating on “Mars time”—as the rover roams the harsh landscape.

“The Martian day is approximately 40 minutes longer than our Earth day, so to stay in sync with the rover, our operations shifts have to move later by about 40 minutes each day,” said Fagents. “Pretty soon we will be working through the night. Though the schedule will be tough, it’s thrilling to finally be on the ground and I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of this.”

The SuperCam team will assist with detection of biosignatures—indicators that life existed in Mars’ ancient past. Now that the rover is on the Martian surface, Sharma and the team will select rock and soil targets to investigate further and then use green and infrared laser beams to identify the minerals and any organic or biological material found during these observations.

“Congratulations to NASA, and the Mars 2020 Team. Sarah, Shiv, Eleni, Francesca and Evan will make Â鶹´«Ã½ proud as they contribute to the success of our nation’s latest exploration milestone,” said Rob Wright, HIGP director. “HIGP faculty and their students have been involved in high profile NASA planetary science missions for over 40 years, and our continual involvement, via the competitively awarded funding that they obtain, proves the outstanding quality of the scientists that UH Mānoa has.”

This effort is an example of UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

—By Marcie Grabowski

After a six-month journey, , the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to Mars, will land on the red planet. Along with people around the world, scientists and students at the eagerly await this milestone, scheduled for February 18, 2021 around 10:30 a.m. HST. .

Since being , researchers in the UH Mānoa (SOEST) worked to develop, test and refine scientific instruments to search for clues about past life on Mars. The rover’s landing site, Jezero Crater, once contained a lake that scientists think is one of the most ideal places to find evidence of ancient life.

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Built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance is loaded with scientific instruments the teams will use to search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterize the planet’s geology and climate, and collect carefully selected rock and sediment samples for possible return to Earth by a future mission.

“There was a huge sense of relief when the launch went flawlessly in late July. Then, it was a case of waiting patiently for the spacecraft to get there,” said Sarah Fagents, a researcher at UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (HIGP) in SOEST and volcanologist with the camera team.

“It was very exciting to see the remote Raman instrument that was developed within HIGP since 1998 in the Raman spectroscopy laboratory launched successfully as a part of the Supercam instrument,” said Shiv Sharma, HIGP researcher and co-investigator on the team.

“In October, Mars was closer to Earth than it will be for another 15 years, so it loomed large, bright and red in the night sky,” said Fagents. “I would go outside in the evenings and imagine the little spacecraft hurtling towards its destination. The past weeks have been increasingly nerve-racking as landing approaches. It’s incredibly hard to land on the surface of another planet, and a lot of people’s hopes and dreams ride on this going well! Both myself and Shiv have been working on this mission since 2014, so we are hugely invested in its success.”

Searching for signs of ancient Martian life

Mastcam-Z is the mast-mounted multispectral stereo camera system that is equipped with a powerful zoom function. At a maximum zoom setting, the cameras could resolve a feature as small as a housefly across the length of a football field—enabling the team to identify rocks, soils and other targets that deserve a closer look by other instruments as they search for signs of ancient Martian life.

Sharma, as a member of the team, will assist with detection of biosignatures—indicators that life existed in the distant past. The SuperCam is a suite of instruments that uses remote optical measurements and laser spectroscopy to determine fine-scale mineralogy, chemistry, and atomic and molecular composition of samples encountered on Mars. This allows the team to detect organic compounds and biosignatures from a distance on and in rocks, soils and sediment layers on Mars.

Final training and planning

During the past six months, the scientists and their graduate students have been extensively training in science operations, procedures and tools.

“The Mars 2020 team is thousands of people strong, and all of the different facets of operating on the surface of another planet have to work together flawlessly,” said Fagents. “As well as learning the technical nuts and bolts of how to do surface operations, we have been engaged in the strategic planning of the rover route to maximize the scientific gains of the mission.”

An unprecedented view of Mars

After landing and once instrument checks are completed, Perseverance will drop off the helicopter and observe as it makes its flights. This will be the first powered flight on another planet.

“After the past seven years of imagining this moment, I am super excited to see the first ever images taken on the ground at Jezero Crater,” said Fagents.

This effort is an example of UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

–By Marcie Grabowski

Perseverance, the , will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on July 30. Since being , three scientists have been hard at work to develop, test and refine scientific instruments to search for clues about past life on Mars.

Built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance is loaded with scientific instruments the teams will use to search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterize the planet’s geology and climate, and collect carefully selected rock and sediment samples for possible return to Earth.

Assessing landscape, history of Mars

Sarah Fagents, a researcher at the (HIGP) in UH ²Ñā²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s (SOEST), is the team’s volcanologist. Mastcam-Z is the mast-mounted multispectral camera system that is equipped with a powerful zoom function. At a maximum zoom setting, the cameras could resolve a feature as small as a housefly across the length of a football field.

The Mastcam-Z team, led by Arizona State University professor and planetary scientist Jim Bell, will use the cameras to look at the landscape and identify rocks, soils and other targets that deserve a closer look by other instruments as they search for signs of ancient martian life.

“The entire Mars 2020 team has been training for Mars surface operations by means of so that we will be able to hit the ground running when the rover lands,” said Fagents.

After a six-month journey to the red planet, the rover’s operations will start on Mars on February 18, 2021. Fagents’ daily role will largely involve analysis and interpretation of Mastcam-Z images to help decide which rock outcrops to target with specialized instruments, as well as what to sample. She will distinguish volcanic rocks from sedimentary deposits, and determine what the rock features indicate about the history of Martian volcanic eruptions.

Detecting signatures of life

HIGP researchers Shiv Sharma and Anupam Misra, both experts in Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence, will assist with detection of biosignatures—indicators that life has existed or is present. They are members of the team led by Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The SuperCam is a suite of instruments, including a Laser-induced Breakdown spectrometer, and combined time-resolved Raman and fluorescence spectrometers, that will determine chemical composition and minerals present, detect organic compounds and biosignatures from a distance on and in rocks, soils and sediment layers on Mars.

The mission, expected to last one Mars year (about 687 Earth days), will also contribute to preparation for human exploration on Mars.

For more see .

–By Marcie Grabowski

NASA has announced the selection of seven science instruments to be included on the Mars 2020 rover. Three scientists from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa’s —Sarah Fagents, Shiv Sharma and Anupam Misra—will be members on the instrument teams to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.

The new rover will carry sophisticated hardware and instruments to perform geological assessments of the rover’s landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.

• NASA news release:

Among the instruments selected is the Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and 3-D imaging capability with the ability to zoom. As the team’s volcanologist, Fagents, a researcher at UH Mānoa’s (HIGP), will identify and interpret rocks and terrains of volcanic origins that are encountered by the Mars 2020 rover. Further objectives of the Mastcam-Z investigation on the NASA Mars 2020 rover are to assess current atmospheric and astronomical conditions, events and surface-atmosphere interactions and processes; and to provide operational support and scientific context for rover navigation.

Her background in field investigations of volcanic deposits on Earth and past experience with the Galileo mission to the Jupiter system provide context for observations made by the new generation of Mars rover-geologists. In spite of this preparation, Fagents knows that she and the Mars 2020 teams are headed into uncharted territory. “Perhaps the greatest challenge will be reaching the Martian surface safely,” Fagents said. “However, the current Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has amply demonstrated that a successful landing is an eminently attainable feat of engineering.”

The can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis and mineralogy, and can detect organic compounds from a distance on and in rocks, soils and sediment layers on Mars. On this instrument team, Researcher Sharma and Associate Researcher Anupam Misra, both experts in Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence at HIGP, will assist with detection of biomarkers—indicators that life has been or is present.

Raman spectroscopy is a technique that aims a laser beam at rocks or other material and, based on the specific wavelengths of light that are emitted back toward the instrument, uniquely identifies minerals and organic substances.

“This will be the culmination of over 15 years of work within HIGP developing the time-resolved active spectroscopic techniques for Mars rover from remote distances. We are thrilled to be the part of SuperCam Team,” said Sharma.

Read the for more.

—By Marcie Grabowski