ISSN:
1572-9540
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Abstract Nearly 40 years after the discovery of the Mössbauer effect for the first time a Mössbauer spectrometer will leave our planet to explore in situ the surface of another solar system body: the red planet Mars [1]. We are currently developing a miniaturized Mössbauer spectrometer (MIMOS) which is part of the scientific payload of the Russian Mars96 mission, to be launched within the next 2–4 years [2,3]. To fulfill the requirements for a space mission to the planet Mars, all parts of the spectrometer had to be extremely miniaturized and ruggedized to withstand the space flight and Mars environmental conditions. The relevant parts (e.g. drive, detector system, electronics etc.) will be described in more detail and its characteristics compared to standard systems. Because of this new development there now is a growing interest to include a Mössbauer (MB) instrument in future space missions to other solar system bodies as for instance Venus, the terrestrial Moon, and a comet nucleus. Because of extremely different environmental conditions (e.g. nearly zero gravity on the surface of a comet nucleus, high pressure and temperature on the surface of Venus, etc.) different instrument designs and concepts are required for different missions. We will present some ideas for various types of missions, as well as the motivation for using Mössbauer spectroscopy in these cases.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02146322
Permalink