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Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction Instrument

This sketch shows a transparent, rectangular chamber with a spoked wheel inside it. Around the outer edge of the wheel are slots for holding chemical samples.

February 16, 2009

Designed to be about the size of a laptop computer inside a carrying case, the Chemistry and Mineralogy Instrument will identify and measure the abundances of minerals on Mars. A rotating wheel in the center of the rectangular housing will carry individual rock and soil samples for chemical analysis.

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This graphic shows the geologic cross-section through lower Mount Sharp on Mars.
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This graphic shows the geologic cross-section through lower Mount Sharp on Mars. The crater floor is in gray. The Murray Formation in green and the Hematite Ridge is in orange.
Geologic Cross-Section
A landscape scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows rock rows at "Junda" forming striations in the foreground, with Mount Sharp on the horizon. The component images were taken by the rover's N...
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A landscape scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows rock rows at "Junda" forming striations in the foreground, with Mount Sharp on the horizon. The component images were taken by the rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam), looking southward, during a pause in driving on Feb. 19.
Martian Landscape With Rock Rows and Mount Sharp
Eberswalde Crater
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Eberswalde Crater
Eberswalde Crater
This view of a test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California results from advance testing of arm positions and camera pointings for taking a low-angle selfie of NASA's Curiosity Mars...
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This view of a test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California results from advance testing of arm positions and camera pointings for taking a low-angle selfie of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The rehearsal led to a dramatic Aug. 5, 2013, selfie of Curiosity by the rover's MAHLI camera.
Test Rover at JPL During Preparation for Mars Rover's Low-Angle Selfie
Mars Science Laboratory mission team members ran mobility tests on California sand dunes in early May 2012 in preparation for operating the Curiosity rover, currently en route to Mars, after its la...
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This artist's concept shows the sky crane maneuver during the descent of NASA's Curiosity rover to the Martian surface.
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This artist's concept shows the sky crane maneuver during the descent of NASA's Curiosity rover to the Martian surface.
Curiosity's Sky Crane Maneuver, Artist's Concept
Gale Crater, where the rover Curiosity of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will land in August 2012, contains a mountain rising from the crater floor.
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Gale Crater, where the rover Curiosity of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will land in August 2012, contains a mountain rising from the crater floor.
Oblique View of Gale Crater, Mars, with Vertical Exaggeration
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians assist as the payload fairing of an Atlas V rocket approaches a transporter for the move to Space ...
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In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians assist as the payload fairing of an Atlas V rocket approaches a transporter for the move to Space Launch Complex 41.
Technicians Prepare to Move Payload Fairing
With NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft sealed inside its payload fairing, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rides a pillar of smoke and flames as it lifts off from Space Launc...
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With NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft sealed inside its payload fairing, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rides a pillar of smoke and flames as it lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26.
Lift off from Launch Complex-41
This view southeastward from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a d...
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This May 10, 2015, view from Curiosity's Mastcam shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a darker rock unit above it. The rover team decided not to approach this outcrop and identified an alternative.
Unfavorable Terrain for Crossing Near 'Logan Pass'
The first demonstration of NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter's capability to relay data from a Mars surface mission, on Nov. 6, 2014, included this and other images from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The im...
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The first demonstration of NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter's capability to relay data from a Mars surface mission, on Nov. 6, 2014, included this and other images from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The image was taken Oct. 23, 2014, by Curiosity's Navigation Camera, showing part of "Pahrump Hills" outcrop.
Image Relayed by MAVEN from Curiosity Mars Rover
This illustration depicts a lake of water partially filling Mars' Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater's northern rim.
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This simulation depicts a lake partially filling Mars' Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater's rim. Evidence that NASA's Curiosity rover has found of ancient streams, deltas and lakes suggests the crater held a lake such as this more than three billion years ago.
Simulated View of Gale Crater Lake on Mars
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This image was taken by the left Navcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on June 18, 2019, the 2,440th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It shows part of "Teal Ridge," which the rover has been stu...
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This image was taken by the left Navcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on June 18, 2019, the 2,440th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It shows part of "Teal Ridge," which the rover has been studying within a region called the "clay-bearing unit."
Curiosity Explores 'Teal Ridge'
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera to capture this view on April 11, 2015, during passage through a valley called "Artist's Drive" on the route up Mount Sharp.
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera to capture this view on April 11, 2015, during passage through a valley called "Artist's Drive" on the route up Mount Sharp.
Scene From 'Artist's Drive' on Mars
This focus-merge image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock called "Burwash." The rock has a coating of dust on it. The coarser, visible gra...
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This focus-merge image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock called "Burwash." The rock has a coating of dust on it. The coarser, visible grains are windblown sand.
Rock 'Burwash' Near Curiosity, Sol 82
This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide.
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This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide.
Volatiles on Mars
The rock "Ithaca" shown here, with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater.
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The rock "Ithaca" shown here, with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater.
Target Rock 'Ithaca' in Gale Crater, Mars, Unannotated
The team developing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory calls this test rover "Scarecrow" because the vehicle does not include a computer brain. Mobility engineers use this test rover to evaluate mobili...
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The team developing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory calls this test rover "Scarecrow" because the vehicle does not include a computer brain. Mobility engineers use this test rover to evaluate mobility and suspension performance.
"Scarecrow"
This chart graphs measurements made by the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity against the distance the rover has driven, in meters.
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This chart graphs measurements made by the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity against the distance the rover has driven, in meters.
Variations of DAN measurements along Curiosity traverse
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014. The site offers a diversity of rock ...
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014. The site offers a diversity of rock types exposed close together in a decipherable geological relationship to each other.
Curiosity's View From Arrival Point at 'The Kimberley' Waypoint
On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color sel...
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On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait.
High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera
This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a network of two-tone mineral veins at an area called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp.
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This March 18, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a network of two-tone mineral veins at an area called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp.
Prominent Veins at 'Garden City' on Mount Sharp, Mars
This image shows the first holes into rock drilled by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, with drill tailings around the holes plus piles of powdered rock collected from the deeper hole and later discarde...
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This image shows the first holes into rock drilled by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, with drill tailings around the holes plus piles of powdered rock collected from the deeper hole and later discarded after other portions of the sample had been delivered to analytical instruments inside the rover.
Dust from Mars Drilling: Tailings and Discard Piles
An animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's drill in action on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182, Curiosity's 182nd Martian day of operations.
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An animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's drill in action on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182, Curiosity's 182nd Martian day of operations.
Ready, Set, Drill

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