NASA's
Curiosity rover can **w
fire its
laser on its
own. What could possibly go wrong?
Fire away, Curiosity.*
NASA's intrepid
Curiosity rover on Mars **w has the ability to choose an interesting rock target and
fire its scientific
laser at it auto**mously.
Yep, that's right.*
A car-sized
rover can select a rock it wants to shoot with a
laser and then actually
fire it all without human intervention.
SEE ALSO:
Latest Curiosity rover selfies show off Mars' red surface
Curiosity isn't just firing its
laser for fun, either. The plasma produced from the zapped rock helps scientists learn more about exactly
What the target is made of.
The rover's new auto**my is made possible by using software that helps
Curiosity pick out rock targets based on brightness and size parameters laid out by scientists ahead of time, according to NASA.
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