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CHEMIN: A Miniaturized Simultaneous X-ray Diffraction/X-ray
Fluorescence Instrument
Principal investigator: David Blake,
NASA Ames Research Center
The combined CHEmical and MINeralogical
capability is reflected in the instrument name.
CheMin is a miniature X-ray diffraction
instrument that will determine the mineral structure and elemental
composition of rocky materials of the solar system. It will be
used to identify and quantify all minerals in complex natural
samples of the Martian surface, such as basalts, evaporates and
soils. The instrument is being built at NASA Ames Research Center
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The principal investigator and the
CheMin data analysis center are at NASA Ames. Some of the instrument
hardware is being developed at JPL. Those are the two lead institutions
for the CheMin investigation. Scientific co-investigators are
located at an additional 9 institutions, including Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Jack Farmer, director of Arizona
State Universtiy’s astrobiology program and a professor
of geological sciences, is a member of the science team for CheMin.
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