MIXS Goals

MIXS has three main science objectives:

1. MIXS will perform an X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface of Mercury. It will produce global maps showing the abundance of elements across the planet. 
2. MIXS will perform high spatial resolution mapping of the elemental abundances of localised features.
3. MIXS will look at particle stimulated X-ray fluorescence on the nightside of the planet to better understand Mercury’s magnetosphere and its interaction with the Surface of the planet.

These scientific goals are heavily linked to the goals of the Solar intensity X-ray Spectrometer (SIXS) which measures the spectrum of X-rays emitted by the Sun and the concentrations of particles in Mercury’s environment in order to reveal the environment that the surface materials are exposed to and allow us to calibrate MIXS observations.