Qualification and Selection Philosophy for the SuperCam IRS Photodiode on Perseverance Rover

Abstract

Abstract The SuperCam instrument was selected by NASA in July 2014 and has been implemented on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. This instrumental suite gathers four different remote-sensing techniques including a very compact Infrared Spectrometer (IRS). For several reasons of costs and planning and after a risk mitigation phase, the use of full commercial-off-the-shelf photodiodes from TELEDYNE JUDSON J19 Series as detector for the IRS was decided. This paper describes the procurement, evaluation, and qualification philosophy of these photodiodes, providing information on the subsystems of the SuperCam instrument and the description of these photodiodes. Critical and fragile parts of the photodiode as the thermo electric cooler, have been particularly studied. In conclusion, the component was space qualified using the original use of the particle impact noise detection test applied for a mechanical screening purpose, with correlation between performance and fine leak, screening and the lot acceptance test processes.