A New Approach to Fitting the Spectra from the Mars Rover Alpha-particle X-ray Spectrometers
نویسندگان
چکیده
A computer code, based upon the existing GUPIX code for PIXE analysis, has been developed to fit X-ray spectra that are excited simultaneously by both XRF and PIXE. Full matrix corrections for both excitation modes are included, and element concentrations are deduced. The code is intended for eventual use in processing spectra from the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometers aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Preliminary tests have been carried out with spectra from certified geochemical reference materials, and the first concentrations derived from the fits are in good agreement with the certified values. Various spectral artifacts remain to be dealt with and extensive further work is planned.
منابع مشابه
Amorphous Analogs of Martian Global Soil: Pair Distribution Function Analyses and Implications for Scattering Models of Chemin X-ray Diffraction
Introduction: Soils on Mars have been analyzed by the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and most recently by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover. Chemical analyses from a majority of soil samples suggest that there is a relatively uniform global soil composition across much of the planet [1]. A soil site, Rocknest, was sampled by the MSL science payload including the CheMin X-ray diffractometer...
متن کاملMars Analogue Field Thermal Emission Spectroscopy: Complications from Downwelling Radiance
Introduction: The 2003 Mars Exploration Rover science strategy is to identify promising targets for the rover using the visible imaging Pancam and thermal infrared imaging Mini-TES. Those targets would then undergo detailed examination using a suite of instruments including an alpha particle x-ray spectrometer, a Mössbauer spectrometer, and a microscopic imager. Team members will select sites u...
متن کاملNew Insights into the Nature of Mineralogic Alteration on Mars from Orbiter, Rover, and Laboratory Data
Introduction: Over the past ten years of Mars exploration, a wealth of information has been gathered from various sources that allows us to more fully address questions about the nature of mineralogic alteration of the Martian surface. The role of water now has been clearly identified by the presence of numerous aqueously-derived mineral phases observed from orbit and the surface. Here we prese...
متن کاملBasaltic rocks analyzed by the Spirit Rover in Gusev Crater.
The Spirit landing site in Gusev Crater on Mars contains dark, fine-grained, vesicular rocks interpreted as lavas. Pancam and Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) spectra suggest that all of these rocks are similar but have variable coatings and dust mantles. Magnified images of brushed and abraded rock surfaces show alteration rinds and veins. Rock interiors contain </=25% megacrysts....
متن کاملMineralogy and chemistry of cobbles at Meridiani Planum, Mars, investigated by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity
[1] Numerous loose rocks with dimensions of a few centimeters to tens of centimeters and with no obvious physical relationship to outcrop rocks have been observed along the traverse of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. To date, about a dozen of these rocks have been analyzed with Opportunity’s contact instruments, providing information about elemental chemistry (Alpha Particle X‐ray Spect...
متن کامل