Was there life on Mars? This is the question that the European Space Agency (ESA) is setting out to answer with its ExoMars mission. The mission, in which Russia is a participant, is scheduled to launch this fall, although recent political developments have raised questions as to whether this will be possible. Part of the mission is an exciting analytical system that was designed to operate in space and was created as part of the research work conducted at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF. The Jena-based researchers developed the miniaturized laser module for the ExoMars Rover's mobile laboratory. The institute will present this Raman spectrometer, which is fitted with a diode-pumped solid-state laser and is the size of a 50-cent coin, at the Laser World of Photonics in Munich from April 26 to 29.
The "Rosalind Franklin" rover will analyze the mineralogical compounds on the surface of Mars, around 56 million kilometers away from the Earth, in order to search for traces of extraterrestrial life on the planet. To achieve this, the vehicle has an on-board drill and an array of scientific instruments. One of these instruments is a device called a Raman spectrometer. It can be used to analyze the diffusion of light from molecules, for example in the atmosphere, or from solids such as rock samples. The centerpiece of the spectrometer's heavily miniaturized and space-worthy laser source is a diode-pumped solid-state laser with frequency doubling, constructed at Fraunhofer IOF in Jena.
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