{"id":17570,"date":"2021-04-15T22:13:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/going-going-goniometer-first-mode-delivers-measuring-gizmo-for-mars-mission\/"},"modified":"2021-04-15T22:13:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:13:22","slug":"going-going-goniometer-first-mode-delivers-measuring-gizmo-for-mars-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/going-going-goniometer-first-mode-delivers-measuring-gizmo-for-mars-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Going, going \u2026 goniometer! First Mode delivers measuring gizmo for Mars mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Goniometer
First Mode President Chris Voorhees and engineers Brian Geddes and Sophia Kim check out the newly completed goniometer before shipping it to Western Washington University. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 3-foot-wide contraption that was built in First Mode\u2019s Seattle workshop looks like something from a science-fiction movie, complete with spinning cogwheels and a flashing light beam \u2014 and it really does have an out-of-this-world purpose: helping scientists interpret readings from Mars.<\/p>\n

Even the word that describes the gizmo has a sci-fi sound: \u201cgoniometer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, First Mode\u2018s engineering team delivered the 3-D goniometer to Western Washington University\u2019s Mars Lab in Bellingham, Wash., where it\u2019ll be used in connection with NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover mission.<\/p>\n

First Mode worked with Western to design the goniometer under the terms of a $302,000 contract from NASA, and it\u2019s already picked up a suitably NASA-esque name. It\u2019s known as the Western TANAGER, with an acronym that stands for \u201cThree-Axis N-sample Automated Goniometer for Evaluating Reflectance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The name pays tribute to the Western Tanager, a bird that can be spotted in Washington and other Western states. \u201cI tied it in by saying that with bird feathers, their color depends both on the pigment but also on the angle that you look at it,\u201d First Mode systems engineer Kathleen Hoza told GeekWire.<\/p>\n

Western\u2019s new goniometer may look like something Buck Rogers would use in the 25th century, but such devices actually go back to the 16th century. Goniometers are designed to make precise measurements of angles, much like the protractors used in elementary school.<\/p>\n

The Western TANAGER kicks things up a notch by measuring angles in three dimensions. Why is that important for Mars? Because knowing the precise angles of reflection for the sunlight that hits Martian rocks could help scientists unlock some of the Red Planet\u2019s geological secrets.<\/p>\n

Virtually every Mars mission has at least one spectrometer that can determine the composition of rocks, based on their absorption levels for different wavelengths of light. If there\u2019s a dip in the light levels at specific wavelengths, geologists can figure out the proportions of elements that are present in a given rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe component that this adds is, you can look at that dip \u2026 and you can say, \u2018Well, is that absorption feature the same at all geometries?\u2019 If you move the light source around, does that absorption feature change, or does it stay exactly the same?\u201d Hoza explained.<\/p>\n

Seeing how the absorption levels change at different angles of reflectance \u2014 for example, as the sun moves through the Martian sky, or as the Perseverance rover moves around the rock \u2014 could lead geologists to fine-tune their analysis of the rock\u2019s composition.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might even be able to use that to learn new things,\u201d Hoza said.<\/p>\n