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Powerful Yet Tiny Machine
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Caption:
This image taken at JPL shows the Moessbauer spectrometer, an instrument on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit that detects iron-bearing minerals in martian rocks and soil. Located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or "arm," this machine uses two pieces of radioactive cobalt-57, each about the size of pencil erasers, to determine with a high degree of accuracy the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals too difficult to detect by other means.
Cataloging Keywords:
| Name | Value | Additional Values |
|---|---|---|
| Target | Mars | |
| System | ||
| Target Type | Planet | |
| Mission | Mars Exploration Rover (MER) | |
| Instrument Host | Spirit (MER-A) | |
| Host Type | Rover | |
| Instrument | Moessbauer Spectrometer (MB) | |
| Detector | ||
| Extra Keywords | Color | |
| Acquisition Date | ||
| Release Date | 2004-01-20 | |
| Date in Caption | ||
| Image Credit | NASA/JPL/University of Mainz | |
| Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05111 | |
| Identifier | PIA05111 | |
