Astronomy current events question: "Jake Matijevic" rock

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)

Guy Webster, Dwayne Brown, "NASA Mars Rover Targets Unusual Rock on Its Journey," September 19, 2012
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120919.html

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is using both its arm-mounted x-ray and mast-mounted laser on the recently-named "Jake Matijevic" rock in order to:
(A) compare the strength of martian rocks against x-rays versus lasers.
(B) engrave a memorial to the former NASA engineer it was named after.
(C) cross-check the chemical analysis results of the two instruments.
(D) use up excess power from its thermoelectric generator.
(E) vaporize any volatile water-bearing compounds that may be present.

Correct answer: (C)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 5 students
(B) : 3 students
(C) : 39 students
(D) : 2 students
(E) : 6 students