Success For Thales Space Laser Headed To Mars

MARSDAILY

The Thales DIVA laser.

by Staff Writers
Paris, France (SPX) Feb 13, 2007
Thales's space laser programme has achieved a new milestone with the successful completion of shock-resistance tests at over 2,000 g in all three axes. Designed to operate for two years on Mars after a 10-month voyage through space, the Thales laser has already demonstrated impressive performance, including energy delivery of 30 mJ per pulse across a temperature range of -30 to +30oC and the ability to withstand extremely hostile radiation and dust environments.

Its ultra-compact size (20 cm long x 5 cm diameter) and low weight (less than 600 g) meet the requirements and constraints of space applications.

Developed by Thales in 2000, the DIVA laser with its low form factor, high energy delivery and exceptional beam quality soon attracted the attention of the French space agency (CNES*) and French space radiation research centre (CESR**) in Toulouse. In 2002, Thales, CNES and CESR jointly launched the ambitious ChemCam (Chemistry Camera) project to pioneer a completely new method for analysing Martian rocks.

Based on the principle of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), the ChemCam remote rock analysis instrument was selected in 2004 for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to study the Red Planet.

The successful completion of tests to validate the ChemCam laser's ability to withstand vibrations and impacts in excess of 40 g rms and 2,000 g in all three axes marks a key milestone in the development of this technology.

The vision of the three partners to develop a revolutionary instrument to analyse Martian rock will soon become a reality as the flight model of the laser is now being readied for delivery to NASA in July 2007. The MSL2009 mission is scheduled to launch in 2009.

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MARSDAILY

Ongoing Preparations for Mars Swing-by

Paris, France (ESA) Jan 30, 2007
This view of Mars (visible towards the top of the image) and of the Milky Way was taken by the OSRIS camera on board the Rosetta orbiter on 3 December 2006, during the last series of instrument check-outs. In this image Mars is heavily overexposed and therefore surrounded by a halo of scattered light. OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) will continue to image Mars during the next major mission phase: the swing-by of planet Mars at the end of February 2007.

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