The spectrometers can catalog potential life signature gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor.

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For example, it uses cameras to detect normal light, as well as spectrometers.

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The spectrometers will also measure properties including molecular weight, electrical charges and the amount of light absorbed at different wavelengths.

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Spectrometers on the "chase planes" picked up in this light shower the signatures of the various materials in the ship burning off.

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Curiosity came equipped with lasers, spectrometers, and a gas chromatograph.

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Today one-third of Unilever's food products come out of Wesdorp's research center, where 450 scientists, physicians, psychologists and, of course, chefs spend their days with microscopes, mass spectrometers and industrial ovens, researching things like creaminess and flavor and asking highly complex and daunting technological questions.

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The sophisticated sensing system measures just 13.5- x 8.5- x 7.5-inches and weighs in at 22-pounds, which is around 30 times less than conventional mass spectrometers, and aside from its ability to be completely portable via battery power, it still sports the same sniffing capabilities as its mammoth-sized siblings.

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