Thales Laser on Mars 2020 Mission: Three Days to Touchdown
16.2.2021 01:40:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
On 18 February, the Perseverance rover — a key component of the Mars 2020 mission — will touch down on the Red Planet after a long seven-month voyage. SuperCam, one of seven strategic onboard instruments, is a powerful combination of technologies designed to analyse, characterise and select Martian rock samples. SuperCam is the result of close collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the United States and the astrophysics and planetology research institute in France (IRAP, CNRS / CNES / Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier), with contributions from the University of Hawaii and the University of Valladolid in Spain. The Mast Unit, the French part of SuperCam located at the top of the rover’s mast, was designed and built by a consortium of French laboratories1 from CNRS, universities and entities under the scientific lead of the IRAP team and under the responsibility of CNES, the French space agency. The laser supplied by Thales is a key part of the Mast Unit.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210215005423/en/
Credits: NASA
In 2012, Curiosity landed on Mars equipped with the first high-power laser to operate on the surface of another planet, a laser designed and developed by Thales for the ChemCam instrument. The ChemCam laser has been operating faultlessly for over eight years and has fired close to 855,000 shots to date as Curiosity has made its 24-kilometre trek across the surface of the Red Planet. Data from ChemCam has already helped to prove that conditions on Mars were once suitable for microbial life.
The SuperCam instrument, a new and more powerful version of ChemCam, is designed to take Mars exploration to a new level. Like ChemCam, the SuperCam laser will use an infrared beam to heat material to a temperature of around 10,000°C and vaporise it — a method called laser induced breakdown spectroscopy. Coupled with a special camera, this makes it possible to determine the chemical composition of Martian rock samples by measuring the colours of light in the plasma created.
Unlike ChemCam, however, the SuperCam laser can also emit a green laser beam, which will help determine the molecular composition of surface materials. This green beam excites the chemical bonds in samples and produces a different signal according to their various linked components. This analysis technique, known as Raman spectroscopy, will be tested for the first time on Mars and will enable scientists to detect any markers of life. The green laser will also be used to induce fluorescence in mineral and organic compounds, allowing scientists to determine their constituent components with greater accuracy.
“We’re proud to have provided NASA with the first two lasers to operate on Mars. The Mars 2020 mission is a decisive step forward in the study of the Red Planet and preparations for future expeditions. SuperCam, the ‘eyes’ of Perseverance, is the result of close collaboration between partners across the international scientific community. Thales's SuperCam laser delivers unrivalled performance and will enable Perseverance to perform its exploration mission throughout its time on the surface of Mars.” Christophe Salomon, Executive Vice President, Land and Air Systems
About Mars 2020
The goal of the Mars 2020 mission is to study the Red Planet’s surface, search for signs of past life, take rock and dust samples at selected sites and store them for retrieval by the future Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, which will be conducted jointly with the European Space Agency. Thales Alenia Space is closely involved in the MSR mission.
The Mars 2020 mission is designed to gather the necessary knowledge and test the technologies that will be vital for future human expeditions to the Red Planet.
How to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere? What resources are available? Is there water beneath the surface, for example? How to improve landing techniques and characterise weather conditions, dust levels and other environmental conditions that could affect the life and work of future astronauts on Mars? These are just some of the questions the Perseverance mission will seek to answer.
About Thales lasers
For more than 35 years, Thales has been a world leader in design, development and manufacturing of high energy nanosecond lasers for industrial applications and the most powerful ultra-short Ti:Sa femtosecond laser systems for leading scientific applications with peak power up to 10 petawatts.
Thales provides the most reliable and easy-to-use products, a unique combination of technological expertise and robustness for implementation into industrial applications that require highest availability such as laser annealing, laser lift-off, laser shock peening and cutting of composites for various industries such as aerospace, microelectronics, flat panel displays and many others. Thales provides also a full range of services, which are optimized to support each customer.
|
About Thales Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2019 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto over 12 months). Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations — connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — technologies that support businesses, organisations and governments in their decisive moments. |
PLEASE VISIT
[1] The Irap ; the Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA, Observatoire de Paris-PSL/CNRS/SU/Université de Paris) ; the Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB, CNRS/Université de Bordeaux) ; the Laboratoire « atmosphères et observations spatiales » (LATMOS, CNRS/SU/UVSQ) ; l’Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP, CNRS/IRD/Météo-France/Université de Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier) ; the Institut d’astrophysique spatiale (IAS, CNRS/Université Paris-Saclay).
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210215005423/en/
Contact information
PRESS
Thales, Media Relations
Group and Innovation
Alice Pruvot
+33 (0)7 70 27 11 37
alice.pruvot@thalesgroup.com
Thales Alenia Space, Media Relations
Sandrine Bielecki
+33 (0)4 92 92 70 94
sandrine.bielecki@thalesgroup.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
SLB Announces Date for Second-Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call26.5.2026 20:00:00 EEST | Press release
SLB (NYSE: SLB) will hold a conference call on July 24, 2026, to discuss the results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2026. The conference call is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern time and a press release regarding the results will be issued at 7:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. To access the conference call, listeners should contact the Conference Call Operator at +1 (800) 715-9871 within North America or +1 (646) 307-1963 outside of North America approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call and the access code is 3440360. A webcast of the conference call will be broadcast simultaneously at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/157027565 on a listen-only basis. Listeners should log in 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to test their browsers and register for the webcast. Following the end of the conference call, a replay will be available at www.slb.com/irwebcast until July 31, 2026, and can be accessed by dialing +1 (800) 770-2030 within North America or +1
Alipay Launches Next-Generation AI Payment Infrastructure, Debuts AI Wallet and Token Pay to Power Agentic Economy26.5.2026 18:20:00 EEST | Press release
Alipay today introduced its full-stack AI payment solution to partners across industries, ranging from AI companies to traditional retailers, and debuted two new services — the world’s first AI Wallet and Token Pay — to support the agentic economy’s rapid growth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260526337824/en/ Alipay Unveils Next-generation AI Payment Infrastructure This launch extends Alipay's next-generation AI payment infrastructure, building on its consumer-facing product Alipay AI Pay and its business-facing AI payment processing product. “While the essence of commerce remains unchanged in the age of AI, the emergence of AI agents is reshaping everything. Drawing on 22 years of technological expertise and commercial know-how, Alipay is building a new generation of AI payment services to accelerate the growth of the agentic commerce ecosystem,” said Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group. AI Wallet: Giving Users Vis
Daiichi Sankyo Europe Reaffirms Commitment to Patient-Centred Care with Extensive Data Showcase at EAS Congress 202626.5.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Daiichi Sankyo Europe (DSE) is pleased to announce its extensive scientific presence at the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) Congress 2026. The presentation of 15 abstracts, comprising both clinical trial analyses and real-world evidence, underscores the company's sustained investment in cardiovascular health and its mission to care for every heartbeat. The 15-abstract showcase provides a comprehensive look at the role of bempedoic acid in lipid management. This includes post-hoc analyses in collaboration with Esperion Therapeutics from the Phase 3 CLEAR Outcomes trial exploring its impact on stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE) incidence.5,6 There are also real-world findings from the MILOS registry, including a dedicated sub-analysis investigating the effectiveness of bempedoic acid across various background therapies.1,2,3,4 Results reinforce consistent effectiveness and safety profile of bempedoic acid across various EU countries and regardless of patients’ existing treatm
OpenRouter Raises $113 Million CapitalG-led Series B as Weekly Volume Explodes to 25T Tokens26.5.2026 16:15:00 EEST | Press release
OpenRouter, the AI model exchange, today announced a $113 million Series B led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, with participation from investors including NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), ServiceNow Ventures, MongoDB Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Databricks Ventures, alongside existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures. OpenRouter’s volume has surged to 25 trillion tokens per week (100 trillion tokens per month), representing a 5X increase from the 5 trillion tokens processed per week just six months ago. The explosion in token demand illustrates how quickly enterprises are deploying agents and scaling AI across multiple models and providers. OpenRouter’s infrastructure manages and optimizes inference and provides access to 400+ models across leading AI providers, including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, xAI, and DeepSeek, among others. The platform is used by over 8 million global users, including AI-native startups and large enterprises,
Xsolla Expands Its Community Management Tools for Creators, Community Leaders, and Resellers26.5.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Xsolla, a leading global video game commerce company, today announced three simultaneous expansions of its community management tools and products. As the creator economy continues to reshape how games are discovered and the industry accelerates its shift toward direct-to-consumer commerce, Xsolla is building on its community management tools for creators, community leaders, and emerging markets, and will showcase them at TwitchCon Rotterdam later this month. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260526596720/en/ Graphic: Xsolla The games industry has never had a shortage of people who drive player acquisition, loyalty, and commerce; it's had a shortage of infrastructure that recognizes them. Creators stream it. Community leaders build a culture around it. Local resellers get it into the hands of players in markets traditional channels can't reach. Each operates at the center of how games are discovered, adopted, an
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom