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Perseverance SuperCam detects chromium-in-corundum glow on Mars
NASA SuperCam principal investigator Roger C. Wiens wrote that Perseverance recorded ruby-like chromium luminescence in corundum near Jezero crater.
Roger C. Wiens, SuperCam principal investigator for NASA's Perseverance rover at Purdue University, wrote in a NASA Science blog dated Nov. 4, 2026, that the rover recorded luminescence matching chromium in corundum, the mineral that forms ruby when it contains chromium1.
Wiens said SuperCam's Raman mode also records time-resolved luminescence, and that about two years ago the team saw strong, narrow peaks at 692.7 and 694.1 nanometers after firing the laser at a light-colored rock1. He wrote that SuperCam timed the delayed atomic transitions and verified the emission as chromium in a corundum structure1.
The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters by a team led by Ann Ollila earlier this year, Wiens wrote1. He said the gemstone form of chromium-bearing corundum is ruby, and that before SuperCam flew, a laboratory ruby in the laser beam made the room pulse red1.
Wiens said the mission has not found collectable rubies on Mars, but that small corundum crystals are being used to study the planet's past1. He wrote that corundum is typically a metamorphic and pegmatitic mineral not expected on a planet without plate tectonics, though large impacts can produce local metamorphism through long-term heating1.
Perseverance is working in ancient terrain near the rim of Jezero crater, where localized metamorphism is possible, he wrote1. Earlier in the mission the team used the luminescence method only rarely; lately it has used it often on light-toned rocks to look for more impact effects1.
The blog is a NASA mission-team note, not an independent news report. Independent confirmation of the rock identifications beyond the cited journal paper is not in the post1.