Public domain
PIXL Takes Aim at Rocks (Illustration)
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
In this illustration, NASA's Perseverance rover uses its Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) instrument to analyze a rock on the surface of Mars. PIXL uses a focused X-ray beam to analyze the chemistry of features as small as a grain of sand. The tiny but powerful beam causes rocks to fluoresce, or produce a glow. While the glow is invisible to the human eye, it is detectable by the instrument and varies according to the rock's elemental chemistry.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit linePIXL Takes Aim at Rocks (Illustration). NASA/JPL, 2020-06-16. Public domain. ID: PIA23719.
