NASA Invents the Tricorder

Another Gadget from Star Trek Becomes Reality

About forty years ago, the first Star Trek series introduced a number of futuristic gadgets that helped that crew of the USS Enterprise explore strange new worlds. One of those gadgets was called the tricorder. Mr. Spock or some other character would aim this hand held device at something and he would be able to tell instantly what it was made of. It was a very useful tool indeed.

It seems that reality has caught up with science fiction. It is a device about the size of a cell phone, designed by Robert Downs and Bonner Denton at the University of Arizona, under contract from NASA. The device, which uses a laser, will fly on the Mars Science Laboratory, a larger, nuclear powered version of the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers, scheduled to be launched to the Red Planet in 2009.

The way the “tricorder” device works is that it shoots a laser at an object, such as a Mars rock, which causes the atoms of the object to vibrate. Then, using a spectrographic technique known as Raman spectroscopy, the spectra that are given off will be measured and compared to known minerals. Every mineral vibrates at a different frequency, so if the Mars rock is of a mineral type already found on Earth that has been measured, it can be easily identified. So far one fifth of the four thousand or so mineral types known to exist on Earth have been measured. If the Mars rock is of an unknown type, then it can be studied further, using other instruments.

The “tricorder” device will doubtlessly be a boon for space exploration, not only as part of the instrument package of robotic probes, but as a vital tool for future, astronaut explorers. Without a doubt, centuries before Star Trek was supposed to have happened, space explorers will use a hand held version of the “tricorder” device to explore the Moon, Mars, and other places in our solar system.