The
webpage “Robotic Arm” (NASA, n.d.) introduces Mars' Perseverance’s robotic arm.
The robotic arm collects rock samples and stores them for analysis. The
Perseverance’s robotic arm consists of scientific cameras, a drill, Gaseous
Dust Removal Tool (GDRT), five degrees of freedom rotary actuators and a ground
contact sensor. There are three scientific cameras, Wide Angle Telegraphic
Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON), Scanning Habitable Environments
with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) and Planetary
Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). As mentioned in the webpage
“Watson” (NASA, n.d.), WATSON is a color camera used to take zoomed in pictures of targets of
interest that contain signs of microbial life searched by SHERLOC. PIXL
functions similarly to SHERLOC. However, it is able to identify chemical
elements at a miniscule level. The rover's drill penetrates into the Martian
surface to collect and store rock samples according to “Robotic Arm” (NASA,
n.d.). The GDRT then uses nitrogen gas to reveal the inner layer of the rock
for analysis (Brockie, 2021). The five degrees of freedom rotary actuators
allow the robotic arm to move in five different axes. The ground contact sensor
sends a signal to the robotic arm to stop its movement to prevent it from
touching the ground (Robotic Arm, n.d.).
The robotic arm of
Perseverance rover is the enhancement of Curiosity rover according to the
webpage “Body” (NASA, n.d.). This is to aid in the search for signs of
microbial life, gather and cache rock samples, and arrange for following
missions as stated in the webpage “Frequently Asked Questions” (NASA, n.d.). In
terms of the mission, this means that the enhanced features
of Perseverance's robotic arm, such as the drilling system and scientific cameras, would
be able to accomplished the task that Curiosity's robotic arm would not be
able to.
One such feature that
was enhanced was the drilling system of the rover, as it allows collecting and storing
of rock samples with its 43 sample collection tubes based on the journal
“Dynamics Associated with the Corer on M2020 Perseverance Rover” (Dodge et al.,
2021). Curiosity's robotic arm only consists of a cylinder to collect the
pulverized rock samples based on “A look back: The Drilling Campaign of the
Curiosity Rover during the Mars Science Laboratory’s Prime Mission” (Abbey et
al., 2019). This shows that Perseverance's robotic arm is capable of caching
samples to be used in the future missions, which Curiosity's robotic arm is not
able to as it only allows storing of one rock sample type.
Another feature that was
enhanced was the scientific cameras, as it has a higher resolution than
Curiosity’s robotic arm camera, Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). According to the
article “Perseverance’s Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and
Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) Investigation” (Barthia,
2021), WATSON camera has a higher resolution of 13.1 to more than 100
micrometre per pixel, SHERLOC has a resolution of 10.1 micrometre per pixel, while
MAHLI only has a resolution of approximately 13 micrometre per pixel. Hence,
these enhanced cameras of Perseverance’s robotic arm would assist in a better
search and analysis for signs of microbial life than Curiosity's robotic arm
camera, as Curiosity’s camera would not provide a higher contrast image.
However, the drilling
system, a feature in Perseverance's robotic arm failed to cache rock samples
according to the article “News at a glance: Olympic COVID-19 precautions, a
Mars dry hole, and a new radio telescope” (Cho et al., 2021). This is evident
when the collected rock did not appear in the tube of the drilling system due
to its unforeseen trait (Cho et al., 2021), which defeats the purpose of
the enhancement. This shows that even with the enhancement in the drilling
system, Perseverance rover would only be able to collect specific types of rock
samples. Thus, this would cause a restriction to the sample size, which may
affect the analysis of microbial life.
In conclusion, the
enhanced features of Perseverance’s robotic arm would be able to do the mission
tasks which Curiosity would not be able to. Although there would be a
limitation to the sample size when caching rock samples, Perseverance's robotic
arm is able to collect and store rock samples for future mission while
Curiosity’s robotic arm is only capable of collecting the samples. Its higher
resolution cameras would also provide better search and analysis for signs of
microbial life than Curiosity's robotic arm camera. With the assistance of these
enhanced features, Perseverance’s robotic arm would be the key to the mission success.
Reference:
Abbey, W., Andersona, R., Beeglea, L., Hurowitz, J., Williford, K., Peters, G.,
& Warner, N. (2019). A look back: The Drilling Campaign of the
Curiosity Rover during the Mars Science Laboratory’s Prime Mission: 2.
Overview of SA/SPaH hardware. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com.singaporetech.remotexs.co/science/article/pii/S001910351830410X
Bhartia, R., Beegle,
L.W., DeFlores, L. Abbey, W., Hollis, J.R., Uckert, K., Zan,
J. (2021). Perseverance’s Scanning Habitable Environments with
Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) Investigation. SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-021-00812-z
Brockie, I. (2021) Why
and How Perseverance Abrades Rocks. NASA.
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/327/why-and-how-perseverance-abrades-rocks/
Cho, A., Matacic, C.,
Clery, D., Grimm, D., Malakoff, D., Normile, D., Appenzeller, T. (2021). News
at a glance: Olympic COVID-19 precautions, a Mars dry hole, and a new radio
telescope: Mars rover's first drilling comes up empty. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-olympic-covid-19-precautions-mars-dry-hole-and-new-radio-telescope
Dodge, R., Parsons, D.,
Abid, M., Chrystal, K., Kartolov, B. (2021). Dynamics Associated
with the Corer on M2020 Perseverance: 2. SCS Introduction. Rover. IEEE
Xplore. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org.singaporetech.remotexs.co/abstract/document/9438361
Nasa. (n.d.). Body. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/body/
Nasa. (n.d.). Frequently
Asked Question: What is Perseverance doing on Mars? https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/faq/
Nasa. (n.d.). Robotic
Arm. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/arm/
Nasa. (n.d.). Watson. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/cameras/#WATSON
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