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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Zap! ChemCam profiles a sand ripple, Curiosity sol 1177

Zap! ChemCam profiles a sand ripple, Curiosity sol 1177
Zap! ChemCam profiles a sand ripple, Curiosity sol 1177 ChemCam shoots a laser at a target of interest, using a spectrometer to view the resulting plasma to determine the elemental constituents of the target. It typically fires 30 shots at one spot, gathering a spectrum of the plasma for every shot, and then moves to an adjacent location and performs 30 more shots. Common ChemCam "rasters" have 5 or more shot points in a row, or sometimes 3-by-3 or more arrays of shot points. This one has 10 shot points marching up and over the crest of a small sand ripple at High Dune, within the Bagnold dunefield. ChemCam took photos with its Remote Micro-Imager before starting the observation and three more times after completing groups of shots. NASA / JPL / LANL / Emily Lakdawalla

Here is a Mastcam-100 view of the 10 shot points after the ChemCam observation completed.

Mastcam-100 image of ChemCam shot points, Curiosity sol 1177
Mastcam-100 image of ChemCam shot points, Curiosity sol 1177 Image: NASA / JPL / MSSS