

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity fired its laser for the first time on Mars - MKais
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1315

======
mgurlitz
NASA used the hashtag "PewPew" in the tweet: _See the 1st laser-zapped rock on
Mars [pic & info] 1.usa.gov/NQC0bW Team is analyzing data now #MSL #PewPew_

~~~
whalesalad
I couldn't help of think about Eve from Wall-E and her laser beam.
[http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/340/3/a/wall_e_and_ev...](http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/340/3/a/wall_e_and_eve_by_youcan619.jpg)

------
zaptheimpaler
Check out <https://twitter.com/N165Mars> to stay updated (and more
importantly, for a hilarious take on the updates)

------
lifeisstillgood
This is what I love about science, and endeavors designed to push boundaries.
Inside a fat forty something is a small child jumping for joy because a robot
is firing lasers on frigging Mars !

Please can we vote for candidates around the world who will put money into
advancing what is known, and what is possible and stop putting it into
arbitraging smaller amounts of dollars at smaller fractions of the speeds of
light

excuse me while I run around the sofa making pew noises

~~~
lmm
Our candidates aren't the ones spending money "arbitraging smaller amounts of
dollars at smaller fractions of the speeds of light". Short of outlawing
certain kinds of trading (a bad idea for any number of reasons) they have zero
influence on that.

Now if you'd said "invading other countries" or "cutting taxes on the rich"
then I'd agree with you.

~~~
dredmorbius
They are, however, not introducing, say, transaction taxes which would make
such microsecond (or less) transactions financially unfeasible. Which would
probably do a lot to both making financial markets more stable and
predictable, and employing high-grade physics, mathematics, and IT talent into
more socially rewarding tasks.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Thank you.

I was thinking of a quote by Brian Cox that the UK has spent "more on Banks in
3 years than on Science funding since Jesus".

There are specific policies I would like to see implemented (I like the
stabilising benefits of a Tobin Tax, agree mostly on progresive taxation) but
to me thats just deckchairs on the Titanic. Getting your favourite deckchair
picked for this years budget is not really a win.

Really I would like to see a generation of politicians worldwide who base
decisions on empirical results, who act independantly of specific interests
and work for the benefit of all. Democracy is pretty good at this. I just want
it to be better at it.

Which of course means an electorate that votes for such politicians.

So its our fault still :-0

Edit - moved acerbic comment about deckchairs around a little

~~~
dredmorbius
There's moving deck chairs, and there's tweaking feedback loops.

50+ years' experience with same-people-different-system states (East & West
Germany, North & South Korea, Hong Kong/Taiwan vs. PRC, and others, not all
democratic v. Communist states) show that small changes in annual growth rate
can compound drastically over time.

While I'm _not_ suggesting that all the ills of the world can be resolved just
by adjusting various marginal tax rates, I _am_ strongly suggesting that
shifting incentives for major economic activity from rent-seeking value-
extraction to socially-benefiting wealth-creation would be a big plus. Tim
O'Reilly's been making some vary interesting comments in this regard over on
Google+.

------
bfe
More images and info at <http://www.msl-chemcam.com/blog/>

------
ComputerGuru
I'd like to see some footage of the laser in the lab; I'm sure they tested it
out on all kinds of stuff ranging from the everyday to the exotic, and quite
extensively too.

~~~
InclinedPlane
The ChemCam system is a more or less standard-ish laser induced breakdown
spectroscopy (LIBS) system. One of the key advantages of using LIBS on
Curiosity is that it can analyze somewhat distant samples, which is fantastic
for a rover that has a top speed of 0.09 kph. There are several example videos
on youtube, here's one: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AtI3t1T5zk>

~~~
raverbashing
But what's the effective range of the system?

It probably is easier and more effective than positioning a measuring system,
acquiring samples (see all the problems Mars Phoenix had), etc

~~~
pohl
Up to about 7 meters (23ft)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Chemistry_and_C...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Chemistry_and_Camera_complex_.28ChemCam.29)

