The manufacture of this model, identical to the flight model, started a year ago, with the creation of the mechanical items by LESIA’s design department, and the characterization and integration of the optics, the detectors and the electronics in the Titan room. The instrument, integrated and aligned at the LESIA, was degassed in MESPA’s enceintes climatiques before being sent to the MecanoID for vibration and shock testing, test which were concluded successfully.
Back at the LESIA, the spectrometer underwent performance and temperature tests in the OBAMA chamber. The model left the LESIA on Thursday Jjune 8th 2017 and arrived at the IRAP the following day.
This delivery finalizes three years of work, starting from the selection of the SuperCam instrument by NASA in July 2014. Thanks to this project, the LESIA will be able to participate in a high profile mission and to establish close technical and scientific collaborations with the IRAP, the LATMOS, the LAB, as well as with our American
partners at the JPL and the LANL.
The infra-red spectrometer will return to the LESIA in the autumn of 2017, integrated with the entire MastUnit instrument of the SuperCam, to undergo radiometric calbiration in the SimEnOm chamber.
The Mars 2020 mission is a NASA robotic exploration mission, which will be lalunched in July 2020. It will place on the surface of the red planet a vehicle in order to search for traces of ancient life (if it had ever existed) and to prepare samples which could one day be sent back to the Earth. The NASA will rely on the Caltech/JPL for the development of this mission, which will transport seven instruments, including SuperCam.
Supercam will study the chemistry and mineralogy of Martian rocks and soil. This set of instruments is developed together with the LANL, Los Alamos and the IRAP, Toulouse, including a Spanish contribution leld by the Valladolid university, for the calibration targets. The CNES is responsible for the French contribution to the SuperCam. The CNES, the CNRS and the universities provide the human resources. Many laboratories and institutes furnish their scientific expertise and participate in the fabrication of the instrument, in its qualification and its scientific calibration : the lIRAP at Toulouse ; the LESIA at Meudon ; dthe LAB at Bordeaux ; the LATMOS, Guyancourt ; l’ISAE-Supaéro, Toulouse ; l’OMP, Toulouse ; l’IAS, Orsay, et le CNES Toulouse. D’autres laboratoires français développent des activités qui contribuent à la instrumental design, will at some point participate in the surface operations on Mars : the IPAG and the ISTerre, Grenoble ; the IMPMC, Paris ; the LPGN, Nantes ; the LGLTPE, Lyon ; the LOMA, Bordeaux ;
GeoRessources at Nancy and the PHASE in Toulouse.