Last week our colleague Fabian Seel presented results from his research at the LIBS22 conference in Bari and was awarded the "Best Oral Presentation" prize. Congratulations Fabian! Fabian is a PhD student here at DLR Institut für Optische Sensorsysteme and deals with the propagation dynamics of laser-induced shock waves. He supports the research that is taking place on the red planet as part of the Mars2020 mission. The Mars rover Perseverance uses a microphone to record shock waves generated during LIBS measurements. Among other things, the recordings can provide information about the hardness of the targeted samples and thus help to distinguish the type of rock.