MSL APXS RDR: Mars Rover Elemental Spectra and Oxide Abundance Data

Two types of calibrated products from the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer aboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover. The data includes summed X-ray spectra in counts as a function of energy and derived abundance data for a set of standard elements and oxides. Products are provided as ASCII text files in comma-separated-value format by NASA, last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing elemental composition of Martian targets based on calibrated X-ray spectra.
• Modeling oxide weight percentages derived from the spectrometer's summed spectra.
• Comparing spectral signatures across different observation sites on Mars.
• Developing calibration or validation methods for similar X-ray spectrometry instruments.

Strengths

• Data is calibrated and derived from the APXS instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover.
• Products are provided in CSV format, suitable for reading with spreadsheet software.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from observations of the APXS instrument aboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:25:10.198532; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mars surface (specific locations visited by the Mars Science Laboratory rover).