Solar day 2: Curiosity starts to rock - Sydney Morning Herald

Today, solar day 2 for Curiosity, the mission control team will instruct the rover to position its remote sensing mast, which has been stowed since the rover's descent and landing. The mast contains the ChemCam instrument, which will analyse rock samples using a mass spectrometer. The instrument works by shooting a laser beam at a rock up to seven metres away, vaporising part of the rock so the spectrometer can assess its chemical composition. Yesterday the rover successfully fired up two of its science instruments, including the radiation detection detector, RAD, which measured high-energy radiation during the spacecraft's flight, but was turned off during descent.<br />http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/solar-day-2-curiosity-starts-to-rock-20120808-23tto.html