Monday, August 20, 2012

Curiosity ZAPS First Mars Rock

Hey Space Placers!

Curiosity fired her laser at a nearby rock and everything worked as planned. The laser ablated the surface of the rock so that the science instruments working with the laser could analyze what the rock is made of and the telescope zoomed in to see the results. It will take some time to get the test results and learn the composition of "Corononation" - the nickname for the first zapped rock in Mars' history! That is a result I can hardly wait for as I have 6 meteorites from Mars in my collection and want to see how they stack up against a rock ON Mars.


This composite image, with magnified insets, depicts the first laser test by the Chemistry and Camera, or ChemCam, instrument aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.

Curiosity should be wheels moving very soon - a day or so as she heads for her first science spot.


Sky Guy in VA

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