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Spinoff story
Mineral Analyzer Shakes Answers Out of Soil and Rocks
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
A small, rugged X-ray diffraction (XRD) tool, CheMin, went to Mars on the Curiosity rover, and one of its inventors, Philippe Sarrazin, started a company to sell devices based on the same technology. The final product incorporated SBIR-financed work as well as a license for a patent filed while Sarrazin worked at Ames Research Center. Now Olympus Scientific Solutions America, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, sells the XRD devices to mining and drug companies as well as Government drug watchdogs.