The miniaturised Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS IIA: Increased sensitivity and new capability for elemental analysis

The Miniaturised Mossbauer Spectrometers MIMOS II on board the two Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) have now been collecting valuable scientific data for more than five years. Mossbauer Spectrometers are part of two future missions: Phobos Grunt (Russian Space Agency) and a joint ESA—NASA Rover in 2018. The new advanced MIMOS IIA instrument described in this paper uses Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) allowing also X-ray fluorescence chemical analysis (XRF) simultaneously to Mossbauer acquisitions. This paper highlights the features and technological improvements of the new spectrometer MIMOS IIA.