REXIS Spectrometer - Surveying an Asteroid with X-Rays
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission launches in September 2016 and plans to return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023. This video profiles a student-built instrument aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft called REXIS - the Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer. The purpose of REXIS is to collect and image fluorescent X-rays emitted by the asteroid, which will give scientists information regarding atomic elements that comprise it.