Revealed: Full specs on Mars rover's nuclear laser heat ray
Megawatt beam to disintegrate the red planet's pinheads The
Register rayguns desk is pleased to report that we have now
obtained full specifications on the powerful laser heat-ray
disintegrator blaster fitted to the NASA Mars rover Curiosity,
which departed planet Earth on Saturday and is even now hurtling
through the void of space towards a rendezvous with destiny in
the red planet's Elysium Planitia region. The information on the
magnificent robot's raygun installation was furnished to us by
the boffins of the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, who
collaborated with French space scientists to produce it. First
up is the headlining spec: Curiosity's laser is mighty indeed,
capable of putting out a beam at no less than megawatt
intensity. This is impressive stuff, in the same range as the
savagely powerful war-ray of the US Airborne Laser Test Bed
project, intended to destroy enemy intercontinental missiles
soaring up from their launch pads at distan