Ground-based verification and data processing of Yutu rover Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer

The Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) is one of the payloads on board the Yutu rover of the Chang'E-3 mission. In order to assess the instrumental performance of APXS, a ground verification test was performed for two unknown samples (basaltic rock, mixed powder sample). In this paper, the details of the experiment configurations and data analysis method are presented. The results show that the elemental abundance of major elements can be well determined by the APXS with relative deviations <15 wt.% (detection distance=30 mm, acquisition time=30 min). The derived detection limit of each major element is inversely proportional to acquisition time and directly proportional to detection distance, suggesting that the appropriate distance should be <50 mm.