He wields a laser, not a lance. France honored my ChemCam…

He wields a laser, not a lance. France honored my ChemCam instrument lead with knighthood for his work bringing together the French and American scientific communities. 🇫🇷 🇺🇸

More from Los Alamos National Laboratory: http://1.usa.gov/25XRKCH

The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument provides information about the chemical composition of targets by zapping them with laser pulses and taking spectrometer readings of the induced sparks. It also takes detailed images through a telescope. 

Here are a couple examples:

Curiosity Rover Roving Mars for science.