Many planetary surface processes (like physical, chemical and energetic particle (space) weathering, water activity, diagenesis, lowtemperature or impact metamorphism, and biogenic activity) leave…

The SETI Institute was awarded a $2.02M research grant by a civilian federal agency with a completion date of September 6, 2026. This grant funds development and research related to the Mapping X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (MAPX), an advanced scientific instrument designed to analyze planetary surfaces at unprecedented resolution. MAPX utilizes X-ray fluorescence technology to provide elemental imaging at approximately 100-micron spatial resolution, enabling scientists to detect and interpret physical, chemical, and biological features preserved in ancient rocks. The instrument operates as an arm-mounted device that uses either an X-ray tube or radioisotope source to generate fluorescence, which is then captured and processed by a sensitive CCD imager equipped with an X-ray micro-pore optic lens for precise spatial resolution and real-time image processing.

This award carries no socioeconomic set-aside designation and reflects the SETI Institute's established technical expertise in planetary science instrumentation and space exploration research. The SETI Institute, a non-profit research organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, has a track record of developing sophisticated scientific instruments and providing technical support to NASA and other federal agencies for planetary exploration missions. The grant represents continued investment in advancing analytical capabilities for studying planetary surface processes and geological history, with applications to NASA's planetary science objectives and the broader exploration of Mars and other celestial bodies.

Many planetary surface processes (like physical, chemical and energetic particle (space) weathering, water activity, diagenesis, lowtemperature or impact metamorphism, and biogenic activity) leave traces of their actions as features in the size range 10S to 100S of microns. The mapping x-RAY fluorescence spectrometer ( mapx ) is intended to provide elemental imaging at =100 micron spatial resolution of 2.5 x 2.5 centimeter areas, yielding elemental chemistry at or below the scale length where many relict physical, chemical, and biological features can be imaged and interpreted in ancient rocks. Mapx is an arm-based instrument placed directly on the surface of an object to be analyzed and held in registry with IT through the use of touch sensors that physically contact the surface. During an analysis, either an x-RAY tube or a radioisotope source bombards the sample surface with x-rays (tube source) or alpha-particles and gamma-rays (radioisotope source), resulting in x-RAY fluorescence from the sample. Fluoresced x-rays emitted in the direction of an x-RAY sensitive CCD imager pass through an x-RAY 1:1 focusing lens (called an x-RAY micro-pore optic, MPO) that projects a spatially resolved image of the x-rays generated from the sample surface onto the CCD. The CCD is read at several frames per second so that in the majority of cases, no more than one photon strikes an individual pixel between read cycles. In this way, the energies and positions of individual x-RAY photons are recorded. The images are stored in memory and processed in real time using algorithms parameterized from the ground. In a single analysis, several thousand frames are both stored and processed in real-time.