Fiber Array for the Mars Rover ChemCAM

Precision MicroFab worked with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to create a fiber array that would be used for the ChemCAM unit on the Curiosity Rover. Ten science instruments were used by the rover to examine rocks, soil and the atmosphere on Mars. The way the ChemCam module works is that it first fires a series of laser pulses at an object. That causes the object to give off an image of light or spark when the laser hits it. The flash of light emitted by the spark then analyzed by the built-in telescope on the rover which is sent through a fiber optic cable to be broken down so it can be processed in order to determine he materials that make up the targeted object.