Advanced Analyzer Labs, Inc. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S1

Description

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">This project is to study the feasibility of developing an in-situ, compact, low-power,&nbsp;non-destructive &nbsp;X-ray imaging instrument to investigate the ice/rock critical properties, such as <em>density, porosity, crack, and chemical non&ndash;uniformity, liquid distribution and flowing path, etc..</em></p><p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">This proposed system will be built with compact low-power X-ray components and an innovative system configuration.&nbsp; This imaging system would be expected to be less than 10 pounds with a total size as a shoe box.&nbsp; The sample could be either ice or rock.&nbsp; The compact X-ray imaging system has a significant potential to be useful for NASA&rsquo;s New Frontiers and Discovery missions cross most planetary bodies.</p><p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">The significance of the proposed technical innovation is from three aspects</p><ol><li>To leverages the rapid progress in X-ray source and X-ray imaging sensor for building a compact and efficient system.</li><li>To use a hybrid optic system to get multiple monochromatic and polychromatic beams for enhancing the system efficiency and capability in data collection.</li><li>To combine the beam system with an innovative scan mechanism for yielding the 3D multi-spectral images with rich information about the samples.</li> </ol><p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">Furthermore, this proposed technology could be combined with other instruments, such as the Mars CheMin system, to form a synergy of the dual/triple modality.&nbsp; The process could be: &nbsp;first to perform the non-destructive multi-spectral 3D CT imaging with the samples, and then do the X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) measurements after the samples to be grounded to powder.&nbsp;&nbsp;The synergy will yield a great amount of information, such as density, porosity, crack, phase composition, etc, as well as the chemical compounds, and trace elements etc. of the samples.&nbsp; To gain such information covering a broad range of the fields would significantly help us to expand our knowledge about the solar system and the universe.</p>