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Argon watching with APXS

Argon watching with APXS
Argon watching with APXS Designed to analyze the chemical composition of rocks and soils, the APXS was not calibrated to take measurements of atmospheric argon. However, early on in the mission MER Athena Science Team member Ralf Gellert, the lead on this instrument, and the team decided to give it a whirl. With a little help from Spirit, Scott VanBommel, now a postdoc at WUSTL, dove into the thousands of hours of argon data Opportunity has collected and applied his research to earning his undergraduate, Master’s, and most recently his PhD, advised by Gellert at the University of Guelph in Canada. “One thing I’ve learned about Mars,” he said, “it’s full of surprises. I love it!” University of Guelph (left); NASA / JPL-Caltech (right)