Laser-etching process
Click on the image for movie

This image of the titanium nameplate on the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover was taken at a payload servicing facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center soon after being attached on March 4, 2020. The plate serves as rock and debris shield to protect a flexible cable that carries power and data from computers in the rover's body to actuators in the arm, as well as to the instruments and the drill in the turret. The laser-etched plate weighs 104 grams (3.7 ounces) and measures 17 inches long by 3.25 inches wide (43 centimeters long by 8.26 centimeters wide).

The plate was cut using a waterjet, and the surface was coated with black thermal paint before a computer-guided laser generated the name "Perseverance" by ablating paint from the surface. (The video below shows the process, speeded up 3,000 times.) The nameplate was attached to the rover on March 4, 2020.

For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/.