Perseverance’s PIXL at Work on Mars (Illustration)

In this illustration, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover uses the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). Located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, the X-ray spectrometer will help search for signs of ancient microbial life in rocks.

Both PIXL and Perseverance were built and are operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.