A 3rd generation synchrotron, surely. Unless she's happy to use FedEx
(do you think Customs in space ports are as anal as their terrestrial
counterparts?)
On 07/05/2013 06:00, Ethan Merritt wrote:
The _New Yorker_ frequently publishes decently written articles on a
huge variety of topics. Occasionally they come out with one about
science, sometimes with a focus on a public policy issue, sometimes a
biographical piece about a mainstream or not-so-mainstream scientist,
sometimes a serialized first publication of a book by a scientist
written for a wide audience. So I was not terribly surprised to find
in the 22 April issue an article about the Mars rover Curiosity and
the team that designed it.
<http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/22/130422fa_fact_bilger>
Spread across two pages in the center of the issue was a color image
of the Curiosity rover itself. Just the thing to inspire creative use
of one's Lego collection
<http://www.space.com/17058-mars-rover-curiosity-lego-instructions.html>.
But then it got a bit strange. The caption reads:
"... the mission includes a nuclear-powered mobile laboratory,
equipped with lasers, spectrometers, and an X-ray crystallographer".
Wow! Who's the lucky Mars-going crystallographer? Anyone we know?
The article text goes to quote one of the JPL rover team members:
"Curiosity came equipped with lasers, spectrometers, and a gas
chromatograph. It had a radiation detector, an X-ray crystallographer,
and a complete weather station. [...] It was like a Hummer with a
half-dozen scientists crammed inside".
OK, so at least our lucky crystallographic colleague has some company
out there on Mars. Still, I do wonder exactly what it said in the
job ad they responded to. Anyone know what sort of X-ray source they
packed with them?
Ethan
