Field deployment of a portable X-ray diffraction/X-ray flourescence instrument on Mars analog terrain

Abstract

CheMin is a miniature X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence instrument that is included in the payload of the Mars 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission. A portable CheMin prototype was built to test the capability of the instrument for remote in situ mineralogical characterization of geological materials. The instrument was successfully deployed at a variety of Mars analog sites in Death Valley, CA, in May 2004.