Curiosity, which is at least our second-favorite Mars rover, can now fire at will. According to NASA officials, software developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory allows Curiosity to select rocks to target with its laser.
The laser is part of Curiosity's ChemCam experiment. ChemCam fires a powerful but invisible laser, exciting the electrons of its target and creating a bright flash. A built-in telescope and spectrometer allow Curiosity to read the signature of that flash. Different chemical elements produce different light signatures, so Curiosity can use these flashes to figure out the composition of the targeted rock. Previous rovers had to touch a rock to determine its composition, but ChemCam works from up to 23 feet away, allowing scientists to collect more data. It has already studied more than 1,400 targets.
