The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL is short for the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, and it is located on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s turret at the end of its robotic arm.
There are 3 main components of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL: the sensor assembly, the body unit electronics (BUE), and the PXL calibration target. [PIXL of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Part 2] will go into details about them. The 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica we are building will also replicate the appearance structure of these three components.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. It will shoot a 120 µm diameter X-ray beam to the targeted site and induce X-ray fluorescence on the rock surface. Then PIXL will measure the target surface’s chemical structure at a sub-millimeter level to analyze the detailed composition of the rock, and this can be done in just 10 seconds. The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL exams the rock and soil autonomously without having to check with Earth each time it runs a scan, so it can record a hyperspectral map of thousands of measured points within hours. The elements that the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL can detect are Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Y, Ga, Ge, As, Zr, Rb, Sr, Y, and Zr. With this information, scientists will be able to search for evidence or signs of ancient Martian microbial life. The PIXL instrument for our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica will not actually have these functions, but we will proportionally replicate it on our Mars Rover Replica‘s motorized robotic arm.
PIXL is put on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for 3 reasons. The first is to analyze the past chemical composition of the Martian terrain, if the planet was habitable, and if the rocks have the potential to store signs of life. The second reason is to find if there was ever life and if there is any potential for other types of lives. The third reason is to determine what samples are worth collecting and potentially returning to Earth.
There are small motors on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover‘s PIXL, which makes it like a 6-legged robot. With many degrees of freedom, the X-ray beam can move very easily just like a human hand controls a laser pointer. Our Perseverance Mars Rover Replica will perfectly replicate the robotic legs so they will move like and provide the same mobility to the PIXL on our Mars Rover replica just like the real one on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.