**6. Summary**

We have described here some of the techniques and analytical instruments that have been developed in the past half century and used for space applications. Many other space analytical instruments have used radioactive sources in one way or another that have not been described here. Some of the developed techniques had a profound influence in developing analytical instruments that are used today in many terrestrial laboratories around the world.

Table 4 shows some of the radioisotopes used in different analytical instruments on space missions. Besides the 242Cm and 244Cm that were used in the APXS, the Mössbauer experiment on the MER mission used about 400 millicuries of 57Co at the start of the mission, to obtain the mineralogy of the iron bearing rocks [10]. Similarly, 55Fe has been used in an XRF instrument on Viking mission in 1976 [11] and on the Beagle 2 mission in 2003 [12].


Table 4. The most common radioisotopes used in the analytical instrument for space applications

#### **7. References**

170 Radioisotopes – Applications in Physical Sciences

The MUSES-C mission suffered several long delays and NASA eventually cancelled its participation on this mission. The Japanese, however, went ahead with the mission that was renamed Hayabusa after the launch in 2003 and succeeded in bringing back a small amount of asteroid material from asteroid Itokawa in June, 2010. Despite the cancellation, the AXS was designed, built and fully flight qualified. It is now available for some

We have described here some of the techniques and analytical instruments that have been developed in the past half century and used for space applications. Many other space analytical instruments have used radioactive sources in one way or another that have not been described here. Some of the developed techniques had a profound influence in developing analytical instruments that are used today in many terrestrial laboratories

Table 4 shows some of the radioisotopes used in different analytical instruments on space missions. Besides the 242Cm and 244Cm that were used in the APXS, the Mössbauer experiment on the MER mission used about 400 millicuries of 57Co at the start of the mission, to obtain the mineralogy of the iron bearing rocks [10]. Similarly, 55Fe has been used in an XRF instrument on Viking mission in 1976 [11] and on the Beagle 2 mission in

**Type Space Mission** 

Phobos1@2('88), Mars96('96),

MER(2004), MSL(2011), Rosetta (2002)

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG), Radioactive Heating Units (RHU),

Pathfinder('97),

<sup>γ</sup> Viking 1&2 (1976), MER (2004)

many space missions

1. Cm-242 161 days 6.1 MeV, α ASI Surveyor Lunar Missions, 1967-1968

3. Fe-55 2.7 y 5.9 keV, x Viking 1&2 (1976), Beagle 2 (2003)

MeV,α,<sup>γ</sup> XRF

Table 4. The most common radioisotopes used in the analytical instrument for space

**Energy,** 

potential future mission.

**6. Summary** 

around the world.

**Isotope Half Live Time** 

2. Cm-244 18.1 years 5.8 MeV, α

4. Co-57 271 days 14, 122 keV,

6. Pu-238 87.74 y 5.5 MeV, α

7. Pu-239 2.4x104 y 5.15 MeV,α Calibrations

5. Am-241 432 y 5.49

2003 [12].

applications


**Part 2** 

**Radioisotopes in Environment** 

