N165 ("Coronation" rock) is a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

on the surface of

Aeolis Palus Aeolis Palus is a plain between the northern wall of Gale crater and the northern foothills of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) on Mars. It is located at . The NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission landed the ''Curiosity'' rover on Aeolis Palus in Aug ...

Gale Crater Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars. It is in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur astr ...

on the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

near the landing site ("Bradbury Landing") of the ''Curiosity'' rover.Christina DesMarais - Mars Rock-Zapping Laser Explained - PC World
/ref> The "approximate" site coordinates are: . On August 19, 2012, the rock was the first target of the rover's laser instrument,

ChemCam Chemistry and Camera complex (ChemCam) is a suite of remote sensing instruments on Mars for the ''Curiosity'' rover. As the name implies, ChemCam is actually two different instruments combined as one: a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS ...

, which can analyze targets at a distance using a laser and spectrometer. A

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

feed for the rock was created, featuring an anthropomorphized account of its experiences.Lauren Davis - Read the increasingly desperate tweets of Martian rock .. - IO9
/ref> Its posts include a humor themed mix of social interaction and Mars content such as "''Did you know I was born in a volcano? Basalts like me come from lava. That's why we call it Olympus Mom''". The goal of this initial use of the laser on Mars was to serve as target practice for characterizing the instrument. The rock was primarily selected for its proximity to the rover, rather than any intrinsic scientific value. The rock was lasered thirty times over ten seconds. The mission's investigators thought the rock was a

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

prior to lasing, which was confirmed by preliminary results.NASA - Coronation's Chemicals
/ref> The ChemCam team reported positive results; they worked on the instrument for eight years before getting to use it on Mars.

Images

Image:PIA16075-Curiosity Rover ChemCam-20120819.jpg, First Laser Test on a Mars Rock, ''N165'', by

on the ''Curiosity'' rover (August 19, 2012). Image:Mars Curiosity Rover-Coronation Rock-N165.jpg, "Coronation"

on Mars - first target of the

laser analyzer on the ''Curiosity'' rover (August 19, 2012). Image:PIA16089.jpg, First Laser Spectrum of

chemical elements A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler sub ...

from

on the ''Curiosity'' rover ( "Coronation" rock, August 19, 2012).

References

External links

''Curiosity'' Rover - Official SiteNASA - Mars Exploration Program

NASA - N165 - ''After the Laser Shots''

NASA - N165 - ''Rover Zaps Rock''Twitter - N165 ("Coronation" rock)

Volcanic rock classification
{{Portal bar, Solar System Aeolis quadrangle Mars Science Laboratory Rocks on Mars

Images

See also

References

External links