Mars rover CURIOSITY USING LASER CHEMICAL `` CHEMCAM CAMERA FOR DETERMINING THE COMPOSITION OF MINERALS
Curiosity rover first used laser `chemical #39;camera ChemCam, which it will use to determine the composition of the minerals - the first unit to become a rock the size of a fist, called Coronation (` crowning `), RIA Novosti` `with reference to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL) of NASA.
The largest and most complex in the history of the rover - the rover Curiosity - the morning of August 6 made a successful landing in a Martian crater Gale after an eight-month journey from Earth, now for a month it will gradually warm up the muscles `` - to check on-board equipment and scientific instruments, preparing to start their research mission.
Tool ChemCam - one of ten scientific instruments Curiosity, a special camera with a spectrometer to determine the chemical composition of the rock, evaporated by the laser beam. A few days after landing the rover scientists have begun to calibrate ChemCam, and on Friday, the developer, the National Laboratory Los Alamos (LANL), Vince Roger (Roger Wiens) reported that the team selected the first target for the laser.
As noted in the JPL, ShemCam in 10 seconds #39;shot#39; on the stone 30. Initially it was assumed that the experiment will be for the rover#39;s `only` pristrelivaniem necessary to verify the accuracy of the instrument. However, the quality of the data collected has been so high that scientists will also be able to assess whether the spectrometer readings varied with each successive laser pulse - this may be an indication of `layering #39;chosen stone.
As previously reported, after the completion of the testing phase of scientific instruments and systems for Mars rover Curiosity will go for his first goal - `` intersection 500 meters away from him, received the name-palindrome Glenelg (Glenelg). If all goes according to plan, the rover will get there in about 1.5 months.
The project `Mars Science Laboratory` (Mars Science Laboratory), whose total cost was $ 2.5 billion, was launched in 2004. Its main link - the rover Curiosity - the representative of the third generation of Mars rovers. It is far superior in its capabilities #39;ancestors#39;: almost toy Sojourner and a few more `solid` Spirit and Opportunity.
By the size of the new rover is comparable to a small car, its weight is 899 kilograms (Spirit and Opportunity weighed 170 kilograms). On board Curiosity are ten scientific instruments a total weight of 75 pounds, which will allow the rover to carry out detailed geological and geochemical studies, to study the atmosphere and climate of the planet, look for water and traces of the organic matter and determine - whether Mars was once suitable for life, and is there a place suitable for life now. RIA Novosti ``
