Subscription Center
September 5, 2012 | 14
For the ChemCam on NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, a spot marks the spot.
ChemCam, a multitalented instrument for remotely analyzing Martian rocks and soils, fires a laser at targets up to seven meters away to determine their chemical composition. The brief laser shots pack quite a wallop—each five-nanosecond laser pulse delivers a megawatt of power, which suffices to turn a tiny region of rock or soil into glowing, ionized gas, or plasma.
ChemCam’s 110-millimeter telescope then takes in light from the laser-excited plasma and routes it to a suite of spectrometers for analysis. The spectrometers can assess the composition of the sample by parsing individual wavelengths of light in the plasma, each of which is characteristic of a different chemical element.
Above is a before-and-after series from a ChemCam analysis of a patch of soil called Beechey. Each of the fields of view is about eight centimeters across, and the five laser-bored spots in the right image are each two to four millimeters wide. The holes were carved out by a sequence of 50 laser pulses apiece from a distance of about 3.5 meters.
See what we're tweeting about
DNLee5 Suddenly feeling warm. Why? My fan isn't working. Look up, the powerlight to water heater is off. Another blackout #dispatchesDNLee
sciencegoddess So many exciting space events! May 31, a giant asteroid will be flying by Earth. http://t.co/cyokKwOJhy DNLee5 you look awesome!! :) @SuzieZUMO @arikia @maggiekb1
Deadline: Jul 30 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Seeker desires a method for producing pseudoephedrine products in such a way that it will be extremely difficult for clandestine che
Deadline: Jun 29 2013
Reward: $7,000 USD
The Seeker for this Challenge desires proposals for chemical methods that could rapidly degrade a dilute aqueous solution
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
14 Comments
Add CommentIt's hard to get a good look from this photo however none of the early signs are of any sedimentary deposits from some water force. I'd bet my geology degree that those strata in the distance are aeolian in origin. Hope I'm wrong.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWorlds biggest parachute.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSKY CRANE!
and now Laser beams!
This may be the coolest machine ever created.
Question for geojellyroll: why do you hope you're wrong?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI DO hope so!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow boring
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPazazu...aeolian deposits are probably layers of wind blown basalt or other wind blown non organic particles. That earlier close up of an igneous rock was a 'downer'. The odds of organic sediments being within the range of Curiosity's travels are probablty as slim on Mars as they would be on Earth. Like on Earth, non-organic surface deposits usually go on for hundreds of kilometers juxtaposition to equally large organic surface deposits. The odds of finding basaltic rocks and being luckily near the edge of organic deposits are slim at best.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyways, the absence of finding any evidence of past life on this mission doesn't rule out finding it out on the next.
Missed your joke for a nanosecond. Looking forward to the results of the analysis. Would love to have one of these for prospecting here on Earth. Just a spare XRF Analyzer would do me if anyone happens to have one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce again with the 'megawatt of power'. Such an imprecise term is more gee-wizz than informative. If the laser is capable of delivering energy at the rate of of 1m Joules per sec (1 MW) then in 5nsec it will deliver 5mJ, 5 one-thousands of a Joule. Now, this is clearly enough to vapourise rock, so, in a science arena, let's go for the meaningful numbers not the tabloid ones. Please.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA very different view to the one we take over here.I appreciate the sincere job.This post is so informative to me.Thank you for your scientific truth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this<a href="http://recipeempire.hpage.com/">Healthy Meal</a>
can not agree more
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNASA has developed the technology to place a 900 Kg rover thru sky crane on the surface of Mars. Can't it pick up samples of soil and rocks from different surface places of Mars, bring back those samples to earth and then analyze the same at earth? Will this analysis of samples at earth be not more reliable than remote analysis at Mars?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes they could if money was no object. One day they will & the present series of robotic craft will help to chose the most promising places for a sample return mission.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, with respect to what you gentlemen are saying; If the Curiosity had landed in a desert in Chile, for example, it would send to Control Center information that there is absolutely no signs of life around anywhere near the site of descent? But the problem is that in Chile and all around the globe this planet is full of life. And saying that this planet is full of life is an understatement; it is bursting by the seams with life to an unbelievable degree! If there was microscopic life on Mars a million years ago, can we detect it now? Without belittling the experiments that Curiosity will carry out, from a point of view of space travel and acrobatic (amazing and exiting) descent this Curiosity mission has been an stunning (strikingly impressive)success. In this area nothing has capture our imagination since the first landing on the moon than this feat of technical skill.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWould 5mJ be enough to seriously injure an attacking Martian?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this