NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars relies on the most advanced suite of instruments ever sent to the Martian surface — among them, a laser-firing tool called the ChemCam.

A concept originally developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, ChemCam serves two key purposes: determine whether rocks and soil on Mars contain chemicals necessary for life, and identify rocks and soil for analysis by other instruments aboard the rover. ChemCam is a multipartnership effort between Los Alamos; the French national space agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales; and French research agency Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

At the instrument’s heart is a high-powered laser, capable of focusing more than 1 million watts of power onto a pinhead-sized area for five-billionths of a second (shown above in an artist’s rendering). ChemCam fires its short laser pulses at a target (Martian rocks or soil). Electrons within the target become excited, emitting light. ChemCam uses a built-in telescope to capture this light. A spectrometer on board the rover “reads” the light, identifying the types of atoms within the target.

ChemCam also makes use of a high-resolution camera, powerful enough to view a human hair from more than 2 meters away, providing scientists with extremely detailed images throughout the Mars exploration.