Curiosity Laser to Zap 1st Martian Rock

Mars Rover to Fire Rock-Zapping Laser Ahead of 1st Drive

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 17 August 2012 Time: 04:01 PM ET

This mosaic image shows the first rock target (N165 circled) NASA's Curiosity rover aims to zap with its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) laser. The rock is off to the right of the rover. Image taken Aug. 8, 2012. Released Aug. 17. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/LANL View full size image

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is slated to fire its rock-vaporizing laser for the first time this weekend, shortly before the 1-ton robot's maiden drive on the Red Planet.
Scientists plan to blast a Martian rock called N165 with Curiosity's laser, which is part of the rover's remote-sampling ChemCam instrument. The 3-inch-wide (7.6 centimeters) stone sits just 9 feet (2.7 meters) from Curiosity, well within ChemCam's 25-foot (7.6 m) range, scientists said.
"Our team has waited eight long years to get to this date, and we're happy that everything is looking good so far," ChemCam principal investigator Roger Wiens, of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told reporters today (Aug. 17). "Hopefully we'll be back early next week and be able to talk about how Curiosity's first laser shots went."

MORE: http://www.space.com/17164-mars-rover-curiosity-laser-big-drive.html

Sources: Space.com, Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA.

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