CANADIAN MADE
Designed, built and operated from Canada by a team of geologists, engineers, and scientists
Designed, built and operated from Canada by a team of geologists, engineers, and scientists
Mounted on the arm of the solar system’s most famous robotic explorer as it roams the Martian landscape
It is used to determine what rocks and soils are made of, providing important clues to geologists working to solve the mysteries of the Red Planet.
It uses tiny but powerful radioactive sources to excite targets in place on Mars
The process begins as the rover extends its arm towards an important target selected by science operations team for detailed APXS analysis.
The turret, with APXS at the forefront, moves to close contact. As the instrument gets close, its radioactive sources begin to excite atoms in the target.
The excitation causes the atoms in the target to emit characteristic X-rays of their own, which are measured and counted by the detector.
Soon a picture, called a spectrum, starts to form. The Canadian team analyzes the spectrum to understand precisely which elements are present in the target, as well as their abundances
Each day "direct-from-Earth" commands are sent to the rover. The rover transmits its data to the MRO & Odyssey satellites which then relay the data back to the Curiosity team on Earth to analyze.
APXS is a fundamental part of the Curiosity mission which enables the rover to determine the chemical composition of the rocks and soil on Mars.
