N165, “Coronation” rock ( eng. "Coronation" rock ) - a stone found by the rover of Curiosity in August 2012. The stone is located on the plain of Aeolis Palus , in the crater of Gale , on the planet Mars , not far from the Bradbury Landing area in which the rover [1] [2] was attached. The approximate coordinates of the center are .
On August 19, 2012, the stone was chosen as the first target for the ChemCam laser spectrometer [1] , which is located on the mast of the rover Curiosity . N165 was chosen primarily because it lay in the immediate vicinity of the rover, and not because of scientific interest. The goal of "shooting" the stone was to check the performance and characteristics of the spectrometer [1] . A detector beam with an energy of 14 mJ, thirty short pulses for 10 seconds affected the N165 , which was located about three meters from Cuirio . At the point of entry, the atoms of the stone turned into a glowing ionized plasma and began to radiate in the light range. Plasma light was received by ChemCam, which carried out spectrometric measurements in three channels: ultraviolet, visible violet, visible and near infrared. The quality of ChemCam performance exceeded all expectations and turned out to be even higher than on Earth. [3] [4] [5]
Content
Gallery
The first test of a ChemCam laser spectrometer, traces of a laser on a N165 stone are visible
The first laser spectrum of chemical elements of the stone N165 , August 19, 2012
See also
- List of stones on Mars
Notes
- 2 1 2 3 Christina DesMarais - Mars Rock-Zapping Laser Explained - PC World
- ↑ Mars Science Laboratory / Curiosity Mission Status Report . NASA (August 19, 2012). The date of circulation is September 3, 2012. Archived May 16, 2013.
- ↑ NASA Curiosity Team Pinpoints Site For First Drive . NASA (08/17/2012). Archived August 18, 2012.
- ↑ Rover's Laser Instrument Zaps First Martian Rock . NASA (08/19/2012). Archived August 21, 2012.
- ↑ Rover Curiosity laser-fired the Red Planet Archived August 22, 2012.