Before-and-after images from Curiosity’s ChemCam micro-imager show holes left by its million-watt laser (NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGN/CNRS)
PEWPEWPEWPEWPEW! Curiosity’s head-mounted ChemCam did a little target practice on August 25, blasting millimeter-sized holes in a soil sample named “Beechey” in order to acquire spectrographic data from the resulting plasma glow. The neat line of holes is called a five-by-one raster, and was made from a distance of about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters).
Sorry Obi-Wan, but Curiosity’s blaster is neither clumsy nor random!
Mounted to Curiosity’s “head”, just above its Mastcam camera “eyes”, ChemCam combines a powerful laser with a telescope and spectrometer that can analyze the light emitted by zapped materials, thereby determining with unprecedented precision what Mars is really made of.
Read: Take a Look Through Curiosity’s ChemCam
For five billionths of a second the laser focuses a million watts of energy onto a specific point. Each of the 5 holes seen on Beechey are the result of 50 laser hits. 2 to 4 millimeters in diameter, the holes are much larger than the laser point itself, which is only .43 millimeters wide at that distance.
ChemCam’s laser allows Curiosity to zap and examine targets up to 23 feet (7 meters) away. Credit: J-L. Lacour/CEA/French Space Agency (CNES)
“ChemCam is designed to look for lighter elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, all of which are crucial for life,” said Roger Wiens, principal investigator of the ChemCam team. “The system can provide immediate, unambiguous detection of water from frost or other sources on the surface as well as carbon – a basic building block of life as well as a possible byproduct of life. This makes the ChemCam a vital component of Curiosity’s mission.”
Visit the official ChemCam site for more information.
An elegant weapon of a more civilized age…
Except that it isn’t a weapon. Lasers, currently, are incredibly impractical for combat.
Metaphor………………
y JASON MAJOR on AUGUST 30, 2012
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Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/97138/curiositys-laser-leaves-its-mark/#ixzz255IVm9lh
y JOHN WILLIAMS on AUGUST 30, 2012
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Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/97128/changing-hues-signal-transition-of-seasons-at-saturn/#ixzz255IhnV9x
Yes but it could lop the head off a martian at 100 meters.
The angles of the holes are wrong for shots from Curiosity. I have solid evidence that the shots came from a second rover behind Glenelg.
Yeah, but Glenelg shot first
“ChemCam is designed to look for lighter elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, all of which are crucial for life,”
… as we know it!
“The system can provide immediate, unambiguous detection of water from frost or other sources on the surface…”
So does that mean the hydrogen readings in the first published results of the ChemCam system is related to frost/water? Taken the fact it was only detected at the surface of the target that would make sense.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/97138/curiositys-laser-leaves-its-mark/#ixzz256k28ltX
What if the life form on Mars are Rockpeople. We will be at war in a week.
Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a brick layer!
Oh!…now we’re doing graffiti on Mars, “Where will it end, Where will it end…”(1936).
I’d like to see Curiosity ‘zap’ some of those ‘blueberries’… if found in that area?
Are the round objects in the top image ‘blueberries’? Zap one of those!
Great article! I love learning about how we are exploring Mars.