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Friday, April 19, 2024
Home PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover’s robotic arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover's robotic arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover’s robotic arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover's robotic arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover’s robotic arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PIXL requires pictures of its rock targets to autonomously position itself. Light diodes encircle its opening and take pictures of rock targets when the instrument is working at night. Using artificial intelligence, PIXL relies on the images to determine how far away it is from a target to be scanned. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)