TheNASA’s Curiosity spacecraft has launched a laser beam on the red planet for the first timeto pulverize a fist-sized stone in order to analyze its mineral content. Theinstrumento ChemCamThe robotic science lab fired 30 laser pulses at the rock in a ten second period. As reported by the space agency, each pulse discharges more than a million watts of energy for about five billionths of a second, vaporizing a pin-sized portion of the rock and creating uA small spark that is analyzed by a small telescope and by three spectrometersThey provide information on the chemical composition of the stone.
The ChemCam system is capable of discerning more than 6,000 different wavelengths in the ultraviolet, infrared and visible spectra of light and is designed to carry out nearly 14,000 measurements during the rover mission.Curiosity In mars. The spectroscopy technique used by this Martian explorer has already been used on Earth to determine the composition of elements in extreme environments, such as the interior of nuclear reactors or the seabed. It also has application in cancer detection.
The purpose of the initial use of the laser, carried out at approximately 11:00 GMT this Sunday, wasa kind of “target practice”for the instrument. But the scientists will examine the data they received to determine the composition of the rock, which they have nicknamed “Coronation.”
Curiosity landed inside a wide, ancient impact crater near the equator of Mars on August 6 after an eight-month journey. Its two-year mission seeks to determine whether or not the most Earth-like planet might have harbored microbial life.
