NASA just fired a laser at a rock on Mars: Here's what we learned

NASA's Curiosity rover spotted a strange rock on Mars, so of course, it shot it with a laser. The intrepid, car-sized robot found an egg-shaped, golf ball-sized shiny rock that looked unlike any other rocks around it on Oct. 27. NASA Scientists controlling the rover suspected that the odd rock is an iron meteorite that found its way to the Martian surface. SEE ALSO: History's most spectacular Mars mission fails So to confirm their suspicions, the researchers had Curiosity fire its laser at the meteorite. The laser instrument (called ChemCam) has a specific scientific purpose.