Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer

This photo shows a round, metal cylinder, small enough to fit in a human palm, open at the end to show a flat bottomed-interior with a smaller, circular metal plate at the bottom. Around the edges of the circular metal plate are six circular openings arranged in a daisy-like formation, like the chamber openings at the end of a six-cylinder pistol.
February 16, 2009
CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Max Planck Institut für Chemie/University of Guelph
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This picture shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer used on the Mars Exploration Rovers. The improved APXS instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover would be able to detect elemental composition more quickly and work both day and night.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Max Planck Institut für Chemie/University of Guelph

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