The PIXL Instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

TL;DR

The PIXL instrument on NASA's Perseverance rover is a high-resolution X-ray spectrometer that rapidly analyzes the elemental composition of rocks and soils on Mars, enabling detailed geochemical mapping.

Contribution

This paper introduces the PIXL instrument, detailing its design, capabilities, and application for in-situ planetary geochemistry analysis on Mars.

Findings

PIXL can analyze a single grain in 10 seconds.

It can generate hyperspectral maps over several hours.

The instrument detects major, minor, and trace elements.

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.