Images taken before and after NASA's Curiosity rover shot its laser 50 times are shown here.

August 22, 2012

Images taken before and after NASA's Curiosity rover shot its laser 50 times are shown here. The rover's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument shot its laser at rocks exposed by thrusters on the rover's sky crane at the scour mark called "Goulburn."

The images were taken by the instrument's remote micro-imager (RMI). They show differences in brightness at the impact spot as well as a slight change in shadows. The inset shows an area about 1 square-inch (2.5 centimeters per side). The target is about 19 feet (5.8 meters) away from the rover.

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP

ENLARGE

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