Characterization Procedure of the Flight Laser Modules for the ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer Marina Benito-Parejo 1 a , Pablo Rodríguez-Pérez 2 b , Ángel Marín 1 , José A. Rodríguez-Prieto 1 , Rosario Canchal 2 , Andoni Moral 2 and Fernando Rull 3 1 Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España ISDEFE, Calle Beatriz de Bobadilla 3, 28040 Madrid, Spain 2 Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial INTA, Ctra Ajalvir Km4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain 3 Universidad de Valladolid UVA, Parque Tecnológico Boecillo, 47151, Valladolid, Spain Keywords: ExoMars, Raman Laser Spectrometer, Raman Laser Module, Raman Laser Flight Models. Abstract: Several space missions have been sent to the surface of Mars carrying scientific instruments to study the environment. However, only one of these missions included a laser: the ChemCam instrument on-board NASA’s Curiosity mission. In 2020, two missions will be launched to study the Martian surface and search for signs of life: NASA’s Mars mission carrying SuperCam instrument that will perform Raman spectroscopy and LIBS technique; and ESA’s mission, ExoMars, with a Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) as part of the rover’s payload that will study the Martian surface. One of the critical points of the RLS instrument is the laser, due to the strict technological requirements that must be met to satisfy scientific and environmental requirements. This paper summarizes the electro-optical characterization campaigns that passed the Flight Model (FM) and the Flight model Spare (FS). 1 INTRODUCTION The surface of Mars has already been studied for some decades, since the arrival of the first rover in 1997, the NASA’s Pathfinder mission rover, Sojourner, being the first probe to touch down on the Martian surface. It was also a NASA mission that took the following rovers to Mars, this time two twin vehicles with the same instruments: Spirit and Opportunity. They landed in opposite regions of the planet in January 2004 with the aim of finding evidence of water on Mars. In 2011, NASA gave up contact with Spirit, and with Opportunity in 2018 (Mann, 2019). NASA’s most recent rover to touch down on Mars is Curiosity, which landed in 2012 and is the only rover still active (Mars Exploration Program, 2019). It is the largest vehicle on the Martian surface and its main objective is to determine if Mars ever had what all life needs: durable water and appropriate chemical ingredients. This rover is still operative and could last longer than the previous ones because it is powered by a nuclear battery instead of solar panels. It was in a https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6192-2197 b https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7534-0884 this mission that the first specific scientific laser for Mars exploration was sent, in the ChemCam instrument on-board Curiosity (Mann, 2019). The ChemCam instrument used the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique, with a pulsed laser. This laser, about 600g weight, uses three Neodymium-doped Potassium-Gadolinium Tungstate (Nd:KGW) crystals and emits pulses at 1067 nm. It is used to vaporize rock surfaces and soils, creating a plasma of their component gases. The generated plasma is characterized by a spectrometer, included also in ChemCam (NASA Science, 2019). Although in 2018 Curiosity discovered organic materials (Mann, 2019), the LIBS approach does not allow detecting low presence of organic molecules (Ciminelli, Del’Olio & Armensie, 2016). The ChemCam successor, SuperCam instrument included in next NASA Mars mission, to be launched in 2020, will not only use the LIBS technique but also Raman spectroscopy in a range up to 12m away from the rover. The objective of this mission is to look for signs of past or present life, and to see if humans could one day explore Mars (NASA, 2019). The Benito-Parejo, M., Rodríguez-Pérez, P., Marín, Á., Rodríguez-Prieto, J., Canchal, R., Moral, A. and Rull, F. Characterization Procedure of the Flight Laser Modules for the ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer. DOI: 10.5220/0008966701070113 In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology (PHOTOPTICS 2020), pages 107-113 ISBN: 978-989-758-401-5; ISSN: 2184-4364 Copyright c  2022 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved 107