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The PIXL Instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

Authors :
Allwood, Abigail C.
Hurowitz, Joel A.
Clark, Benton C.
Cinquini, Luca
Davidoff, Scott
Denise, Robert W.
Elam, W. Timothy
Foote, Marc C.
Flannery, David T.
Gerhard, James H.
Grotzinger, John P.
Heirwegh, Christopher M.
Hernandez, Christina
Hodyss, Robert P.
Jones, Michael W.
Jorgensen, John Leif
Henneke, Jesper
Lawson, Peter R.
Liu, Yang
MacDonald, Haley
McLennan, Scott M.
Moore, Kelsey R.
Nachon, Marion
Nemere, Peter
O'Neil, Lauren
Pedersen, David A. K.
Sinclair, Kimberly P.
Sondheim, Michael E.
Song, Eugenie
Tallarida, Nicholas R.
Tice, Michael M.
Treiman, Alan
Uckert, Kyle
Wade, Lawrence A.
Young, Jimmie D.
Zamani, Payam
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA's Perseverance rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial resolution observations of rock and soil chemistry, rapidly analyzing the elemental chemistry of a target surface. In 10 seconds, PIXL can use its powerful 120 micrometer diameter X-ray beam to analyze a single, sand-sized grain with enough sensitivity to detect major and minor rock-forming elements, as well as many trace elements. Over a period of several hours, PIXL can autonomously scan an area of the rock surface and acquire a hyperspectral map comprised of several thousand individual measured points.<br />Comment: 2 pages, from 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2021/pdf/1591.pdf

Details

Database :
arXiv
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.2103.07001
Document Type :
Working Paper