SuperCam's 2024 ruby test and 2026 luminescence result

In 2024, the SuperCam team conducted a ruby laser beam test before the instrument was installed on NASA's Perseverance rover. In 2026, the result was announced. The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters and focused on time-resolved luminescence from chromium in corundum.

Perseverance is a NASA rover carrying instruments for rock-record studies. SuperCam, PIXL and SHERLOC detect minerals, and SuperCam and PIXL detect elements; SuperCam also performs Raman spectroscopy and studies time-resolved luminescence.

Before installation, the team tested SuperCam with a ruby laser beam. Ruby is the gemstone form of chromium-bearing corundum, and the test confirmed emission from chromium in corundum.

The 2024 test measured lines at 692.7 and 694.1 nanometers. Luminescence usually spans a broad wavelength range. The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters, and the team was led by Ann Ollila. The result was announced in 2026.

Roger C. Wiens is SuperCam's principal investigator for NASA's Perseverance rover and is affiliated with Purdue University. The rover has not found collectable rubies, and recent time-resolved luminescence observations have been frequent on light-toned rocks.

Corundum is described as a metamorphic and pegmatitic mineral. Mars lacks plate tectonics, while large meteor and asteroid impacts can produce local metamorphism. Perseverance is in ancient terrain near the Jezero crater rim, and this is the first mission in such terrain.

For readers tracking the lunar industry, the result is a concrete example of remote mineral detection: time-resolved luminescence distinguished chromium in corundum, showing how spectral measurements can verify the source of an emission.

The geological context also matters because Mars lacks plate tectonics, while large impacts can create local metamorphism. That context is relevant to metamorphic minerals such as corundum, and Perseverance is the first mission in the ancient terrain near the Jezero crater rim.

In September 2026, this site reported on a study of a Mars lake margin unit that described carbonate ridges, silica-fractured olivine and three water events. The SuperCam luminescence report extends that mineral-focused Mars coverage.

In October 2026, the site reported that Curiosity continued imaging, chemistry and environmental monitoring while analyzing the Basque Lakes sample. The SuperCam background adds another rover instrument's mineral-detection work to the same thread.