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The Scientists Behind the
Science on Mars

Meet the spectroscopists working on the NASA
rover missions to Mars.

MARS MISSION 2020

 

MARS & PERSEVERANCE

MARS emanates a sense of adventure and promise, capturing the imagination and interest of scientists and explorers from all over the world. Although no human has ever set foot on this red planet, it has been a destination successfully reached by human-engineered spacecrafts and rovers. The latest rover by NASA is the SUV-sized Perseverance, which touched down on Mar’s Jezero Crater on February 18th, 2021. Its mission: analyze rocks and soil on Mars and collect samples that will one day be brought back to Earth. It is equipped with upgraded cameras and sophisticated instrumentation including several spectrometers: 

Here, we bring to you the stories of some of the scientists involved with the spectrometers on the Perseverance mission.

Mockup of Perseverance Rover

APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY

LEARN HOW SPECTROSCOPY
IS WORKING ON MARS

Dr. Vivian Sun

LIAISON BETWEEN ENGINEERING TEAMS AT JPL & SCIENTISTS AROUND THE WORLD

Dr. Vivian Z. Sun
Systems Engineer, Co-Campaign Science Lead

Dr. Sun helps put together the rover’s daily plans and acts as a liaison between the engineering team at JPL and science teams from around the world.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR OF SUPERCAM

Dr. Roger Wiens
Leader of the SuperCam Team

Roger Wiens is the Principal Investigator of both ChemCam on the Curiosity rover and SuperCam on the Perseverance rover.

Dr. Roger Wiens
Dr. Michael Angel and mockup of Perseverance

SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH COLLABORATOR & SPDL ON SUPERCAM TEAM

Dr. S. Michael Angel
Carolina Trustee Professor

Professor Angel published the first practical remote Raman spectroscopy paper using a small telescope and a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector.

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

 

SOCIETY FOR APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY

The Society for Applied Spectroscopy knows that the science on Mars is more than just groundbreaking instruments, it’s the scientists behind those instruments. We’re fulfilling our mission to advance spectroscopy by bringing you in-depth stories humanizing the spectroscopists with instruments on Mars.

SPECTROSCOPY BY THE NUMBERS

4

SPECTROSCOPY CORE TEAMS

2

LASERS

405

PERSEVERANCE TEAM MEMBERS

7

SPECTROMETERS & SCIENTIFIC CAMERAS

JOIN THE TEAM

GET INVOLVED AND JOIN THE SOCIETY FOR APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY

Connect with other spectroscopists, discover the latest advances in spectroscopy, develop your career and share your own skills and challenges.

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