![]() Major element calibration and some minor and trace element detections for ChemCam are discussed by Wiens et al. It can detect, dependent on the concentration, all major elements (Si, Ca, Mg, Al, K, Na, Ti, and Fe), several minor elements (H, C, N, P, S, Cl, and Mn), and many trace elements (Li, B, Rb, Sr, Ba, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb). ChemCam is a remote instrument designed to operate at distances of 1.5 to 7 m from the rover. The ChemCam instrument suite has a laser-induced breakdown spectrometer (LIBS) and a remote micro-imager (RMI), and this is the first planetary mission to use a LIBS instrument. No implication of the presence or absence of organic materials or living matter is intended, nor is the genesis of the deposit. Note that the term Martian soil is used here to denote any loose, unconsolidated materials that can be distinguished from rocks, bedrock, or strongly cohesive sediments. There are two emission spectroscopy instruments on the rover that provide complementary chemical information on rocks and soils: the ChemCam and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS). ![]() Note that all of the small-scale feature names in this paper are informal and are not approved by the International Astronomical Union. Over the first 100 sols, the rover traveled ~400 m and descended ~15 m from Bradbury Landing Site to a location called Rocknest in the Glenelg region where three distinct geologic units meet. Curiosity landed on what appears to be the distal end of an alluvial fan, based on orbital geomorphology and the presence of material consistent with a fluvial conglomerate. The primary objective of Curiosity's mission is to characterize the geology and atmosphere in Gale crater and search for habitable environments or locations that sustain or may have sustained life in the past. On 6 August 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, just northwest of the central mound, Mount Sharp, in Gale crater. ![]() Together, these trace element observations provide possible evidence of magma differentiation and aqueous alteration. These analysis locations tend to have high Si and alkali abundances, consistent with a feldspar composition. Li, detected for the first time directly on Mars, is generally low (100 ppm and >1000 ppm, respectively. Univariate peak area models and multivariate partial least squares models are presented. We focus on detecting and quantifying Li, Ba, Rb, and Sr in targets analyzed during the first 100 sols, from Bradbury Landing Site to Rocknest. The ChemCam instrument package on the Mars rover, Curiosity, provides new capabilities to probe the abundances of certain trace elements in the rocks and soils on Mars using the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique.
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