The Mars rover Curiosity made headlines when it landed safely on Aug. 6, 2012, and first set to work on the Red Planet. The well-traveled instruments continue bringing news today. 

For more than two years, Earth has received Martian chemical data produced by Curiosity’s ChemCam and its rock-zapping laser. The data come by radio and take some 14 minutes to speed over 150 million miles back to earthlings eager to learn more.

We still marvel at the technical wonders that tell us what is on the next planet out from the sun. Townspeople can visit the public screen a half block east of the post office on Central Avenue that shows the current news and pictures sent from Mars. Imagine!  

Curiosity explores the state of Mars. It also exhibits ideas that can help with Earth’s problems.

Which technologies aboard the rover Curiosity could be adapted to make environmental sampling and analysis work better, faster and cheaper? If we can detect chemicals and their histories on Mars, can we check out pollutants more quickly on Earth? 

These questions sprang up on a bright September day two years ago at the Next Big Idea Festival, which evolved into this year’s nine-day-long Los Alamos ScienceFest. In 2012, we saw a full-size mock-up of Curiosity and the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s ChemCam. This year we heard talks given at the “News From Mars” display downtown.  

The Star Trek feel of changing times is enough to ask, “What if?”

The first lesson from Mars is that we don’t have to ship or handle chemical samples to analyze them. Shipping and such add cost and delay. On Mars, sampling and measuring are done on site with light – with lasers and spectrometers (light analyzers).

What if regulatory engineers on Earth used easily portable spectrometers to analyze for pollutants? What if data arrived in minutes instead of months? What if we learned more, in less time, at less cost?

The realm of possibilities constantly has more to draw from.    

Any discussion of everyday uses begins with cost. The Mars rover took nine years to develop and build at a total cost of $2.5 billion. Is that a good buy?

Any thought of reaching and probing the Martian landscape has to start with a giant leap. The $2.5 billion met its mission and led to creators and vendors of improved technologies.

To compare costs, pet owners paid $3.8 billion in 2011 for grooming, boarding and baby-sitting pets. The $3.8 billion led to creators and vendors of improved pet services. Such things can come in small steps.

Ideas fall into place as a pulse does.

Spectroscopic tools on the market keep increasing in power to analyze chemicals by light emissions. Different types have names as strange as infrared, Raman, and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), which is used on Mars. Each one has unique advantages.

Without the design burdens imposed by space travel, a handheld Raman analyzer with decent accuracy costs about $30,000. Could such a tool fit together with other ideas to make clean air regulation better, faster and cheaper?   

Consider a real case. For years, the Intel chip plant at Rio Rancho, New Mexico, spent upwards of $500,000 a year meeting rules to test their stack emissions every three months. The air emissions data were valuable when the testing began in the 1990’s. But as years pass, the test results look much the same every time and are little used for anything.

What if most of the stack testing were replaced with timely tests by a portable spectrometer that sent reports when asked? What if we look more closely?

What if a closer look finds better ideas?

What if regulation becomes better, faster and cheaper?