Xsirius Inc. Wins Another Mars Exploration Contract

Xsirius Inc., the Camarillo maker of X-ray detection devices, said it has won a $250,000 contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to build a small X-ray detector to analyze Martian dirt and rock for NASA’s 1996 Pathfinder Mission to Mars.

It is Xsirius’ second contract for for a Mars research device. The company has built a similar device for a European Mars probe to be launched from Russia in 1996.

The device, called an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, is about half the size of a package of cigarettes and will fit onto the exterior of Pathfinder’s roving landing craft. The device uses a crystal called mercuric iodide, which is manufactured by Xsirius, to reproduce images captured by X-rays.