This 'detective' and his 'assistant' will be traveling to Mars

Artist's concept of the Perseverance Mars rover. Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

A popular "detective" and his "assistant" will take their talents to outer space to solve the mysteries of the Red Planet.

In a blog post on Tuesday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the Perseverance rover will touch down on Mars in February 2021.

Among its passengers are "SHERLOC" and "WATSON," devices named after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved characters.

"Together, they will study rock surfaces, mapping out the presence of certain minerals and organic molecules, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life on Earth," NASA said.

Traveling to Mars this summer aboard @NASAPersevere:

SHERLOC = an instrument to search for sand-grain size clues
WATSON = a camera to capture close-up images

?????‍?? How this detective and its assistant will put a magnifying glass on Martian rocks: https://t.co/i992Jwok3W pic.twitter.com/VUxQV8zN0J

— NASA (@NASA) May 29, 2020

SHERLOC, which stands for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals, is "an instrument on the end of the rover's robotic arm" and "will hunt for sand grain-sized clues in Martial rocks."

NASA also said that SHERLOC will also help create spacesuits that will hold up in the Martian environment when humans travel to Mars.

Meanwhile, WATSON, also known as the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering, is a camera that will take close-up pictures of rock textures.

Perseverance is tasked with searching for "signs of past microbial life" and studying  Mars' climate and geology to "pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet."

It will be launched anytime between July 17 to August 11 and expected to reach Mars on February 18 next year.  --Kaela Malig/MGP, GMA News