SAMARA. Jan 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The U.S. Mars rover Spirit is fitted with a Russian device, designed to determine chemical composition of Martian samples.
"The U.S. Spirit Mars rover is fitted with a devices, designed to determine chemical composition of Martian samples: this device has been manufactured by a scientific center, based in Dimitrovgrad outside Ulyanovsk," a source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
According to the source, the penny-sized device is mounted in the probe of the rover and is designed to determine chemical composition of Martian samples, obtained with the help of Curie 244 radioisotopes.
"The device operates in compliance with the following principle: its source emits alpha rays, which influence the sample by knocking out secondary protons, the characteristics of which allow scientists to make conclusions with respect to Martian natural resources," he said.
According to him, the device is reliable and is capable of sustaining great overloads at takeoff and landing of the spacecraft. It is also capable of operating within a temperature range of -100 degrees Centigrade up to +100 degrees Centigrade. The source said that a total of 120 devices like that had been manufactured, with 12 of them operating in space at the moment.
The Dimitrovgrad Nuclear Center has already participated in joint Russian-U.S. space research projects, for instance, the 1997 NASA project. Back then the Martian surface was explored by a roller, fitted with a spectrometer with a Curie 244 source, designed in Dimitrovgrad.