Mars Rover's SHELOC Instrument Back Online (nasa.gov) 14
Longtime Slashdot reader thephydes writes: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has announced that the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument on the Perseverance rover has been brought back online "Six months of running diagnostics, testing, imagery and data analysis, troubleshooting, and retesting couldn't come with a better conclusion," said SHERLOC principal investigator Kevin Hand of JPL.
JPL writes in a press release. "Mounted on the rover's robotic arm, SHERLOC uses cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life." In addition to its black-and-white context camera, SHERLOC is assisted by WATSON, a color camera for taking close-up images of rock grains and surface textures. The instrument stopped working this past January when it encountered an issue where the "movable lens cover designed to protect the instrument's spectrometer and one of its cameras from dust became frozen in a position that prevented SHERLOC from collecting data," says JPL.
"Analysis by the SHERLOC team pointed to the malfunction of a small motor responsible for moving the protective lens cover as well as adjusting focus for the spectrometer and the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI) camera. By testing potential solutions on a duplicate SHERLOC instrument at JPL, the team began a long, meticulous evaluation process to see if, and how, the lens cover could be moved into the open position."
JPL writes in a press release. "Mounted on the rover's robotic arm, SHERLOC uses cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life." In addition to its black-and-white context camera, SHERLOC is assisted by WATSON, a color camera for taking close-up images of rock grains and surface textures. The instrument stopped working this past January when it encountered an issue where the "movable lens cover designed to protect the instrument's spectrometer and one of its cameras from dust became frozen in a position that prevented SHERLOC from collecting data," says JPL.
"Analysis by the SHERLOC team pointed to the malfunction of a small motor responsible for moving the protective lens cover as well as adjusting focus for the spectrometer and the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI) camera. By testing potential solutions on a duplicate SHERLOC instrument at JPL, the team began a long, meticulous evaluation process to see if, and how, the lens cover could be moved into the open position."
No shit SHERLOC! (Score:2)
Good to hear!
And somewhow they got the spelling wrong (Score:3)
Title says "SHELOC" while summary says "SHERLOC". Slashdot editor is the laziest job.
That's some fine movement (Score:3)
“The rover’s robotic arm is amazing. It can be commanded in small, quarter-millimeter steps to help us evaluate SHERLOC’s new focus position, and it can place SHERLOC with high accuracy on a target,” said Uckert
For something which was subjected a shit ton of vibrations during descent, along with the continual vibrations as the rover moves about, a quarter-millimeter increment for focusing is astounding.
Tipo (Score:2)
Tipo in title: SHELOC
Re:Typo in title: SHELOC (Score:2)
No, "Shellac" is what Don did to Joe in the debate, and I'm a Democrat. Gotta find a replacement quick to beat the Lying Orange Dictator.
As far as the topic, it's irony they had to use Sherlock-like techniques to troubleshoot the SHERLOC instrument.
S.H.E.L.O.C. v. B.E.L.L.O.Q. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ramen Luminescence ??? (Score:3)
I misread that as "Scanning Habitable Environments with Ramen & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals".
For one moment I assumed they were trying to tempt K'Breel and co out into the open using a tasty Earth dish.
Re: (Score:1)
Always eat before you go grocery shopping or before reading NASA articles. Otherwise, you'll f$ck both up.
Re: (Score:2)
I misread that as "Scanning Habitable Environments with Ramen & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals".
For one moment I assumed they were trying to tempt K'Breel and co out into the open using a tasty Earth dish.
Thanks for the K'Breel deep cut. If only I had mod points for you.