Mini-TES

By making its measurements in the thermal infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, it has the ability to penetrate through the dust coatings common to the Martian surface which is usually problematic for remote sensing observations.

The MGS TES data helped scientists choose landing sites for the Spirit and Opportunity Mars explorer rovers.

The instrument can also look skyward to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere and detect the abundance of dust and water vapor.

The instrument is located inside the warm electronics box in the body of the rover - the mirror redirects radiation into the aperture from above.

It was thought that a small potassium bromide (KBr) beamsplitter which was housed in an aluminium fitting would crack due to the mismatched coefficient of thermal expansion.