Curiosity (rover) Ontario, NASA, the University of California, San Diego and Cornell University. The APXS instrument takes advantage of particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and X-ray fluorescence, previously exploited by the Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rovers. CheMin is the Chemistry and Mineralogy X-ray powder diffraction and fluorescence instrument. CheMin is one of four spectrometers. It can identify and quantify the abundance of the minerals on Mars. It was developed by David Blake at NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and won the 2013 NASA Government Invention of the year award. The rover can drill samples from rocks and
Final Days of Planet Earth Final Days of Planet Earth Final Days of Planet Earth is a 2006 science fiction miniseries directed by Robert Lieberman and written by Roger Soffer. Starring Campbell Scott, Gil Bellows, and Daryl Hannah, the movie was produced by RHI Entertainment for the Hallmark Channel. Three years ago, a team of astronaut miners completed a daring space expedition. They embarked on their journey home, but by the time the craft returned to Earth, their commander had gone mad—taking a terrible secret with him to a heavily guarded state asylum for the insane. Today, archeologist Lloyd Walker and entomologist Marianne Winters are