N.M. scientists track Mars rover test

LOS ALAMOS (KRQE) - Sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, NASA was expecting to have images from its Mars rover Curiosity and data from shooting its laser to blast a space rock.

It's happening on another planet but this part of the mission has roots in New Mexico.

"We are hoping that in the investigations that we do, we'll really understand a lot more about the history of Mars and the climate history of Mars," said Roger Wiens, the principal investigator of the ChemCam, Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera instrument.

The ChemCam sits on top of Curiosity which landed successfully on Mars about two weeks ago.

It has a laser that was built by French scientist and its controls were made at the Los Alamos National Laboratory . It took almost 15 years to develop.

Wiens says it could decide any possibilities of humans one day living on mars.

"This is true exploration, and I really believe there's a fair amount of serendipity in these explorations," said Wiens. ”We really don't know exactly what we'll find."

Friday night the ChemCam crew sent Curiosity commands to take images of a 3-inch rock lying nearby in the crater. They'll have the laser blast into the small rock from about 10 feet away while on-board instruments will analyze what it's made of.

The insides will show the history of the planet's climate and if the planet could ever sustain life.

For the small rock, Wiens calls it target practice for the rest of the mission.

"Our team is very excited, and we're just really waiting for tomorrow and the days ahead," he added. "The excitement is just starting."

After this round of testing the team will do some calibrations before entering the next phase. That will involve drilling and using a scooping device for more testing of the surface of Mars.