Good old NASA is giving their Mars Rover a hardcore makeover. The next-gen Rover (the Mars Science Laboratory) is gonna weigh in at 1,800 pounds and pack rock-crushing lasers. As a matter of fact, it’s gonna pack so much tech it’ll have to run on nuclear power rather than solar arrays (like previous Rovers).
So aside from the lasers (which will be able to disintegrate rocks up to 40 feet away) it’ll have 3 cameras and an X-ray spectrometer (which is used to determine what elements are around the Rover). It’s expected to be shot up to Mars in 2009. Look out, Martians.
NASA’s Next Mars Rover is a Laser-equipped Monster [Sci Fi Tech]
