A new gamma-ray spectroscope detects the veins of gold, platinum, and rare earths hidden within the asteroids, moons, and other airless objects floating around the solar system. The sensor, developed by teams at Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Planetary Science Institute, will allow miners to find valuable materials beyond Earth.
The instrument's europium-doped strontium iodide material, a transparent crystal, acts as an extremely efficient gamma-ray detector. The CubeSat prototype of the gamma-ray spectrometer, built from off-the-shelf components, weighs one pound and consumes about three watts of electricity.
“Space missions to the Moon, Mars, Mercury and the asteroid Vesta among others have included low-resolution spectrometers, but it has taken months of observation time and great expense to map their elemental surface compositions from orbit,” said Professor of Astronomy Keivan Stassun. “With our proposed system it should be possible to measure sub-surface elemental abundances accurately, and to do it much more cheaply because our sensors weigh less and require less power to operate."
The first commercial missions to nearby asteroids could launch as early as 2020, but it will be decades before asteroid mining begins in earnest. In the meantime, the new spectroscopic technology will provide planetary scientists with new details about the chemical composition of the asteroids, comets, moons, and minor planets in the solar system: information that is certain to improve our understanding of how the solar system formed.
Additionally, the spectroscope could support planetary defense arsenal, determining whether objects crossing Earth’s orbit are made from rock or ice.
Also: Learn about Calibrating a Spectrometer Using Broadband Light.
