When a lander touches down, its engine blasts dust sideways. SIFT catches that dust, separates coarse grains from fine, and measures the composition of each.
What it's good for
Excavation and drilling
How hard, abrasive and tightly packed the soil is, so you can pick bits and power and predict wear.
Processing
Which grain size holds the ilmenite, the volatiles or the best melt feedstock, so you sieve and heat only that.
Dust
Which fine grains fly fastest, stick to hardware and pose a health risk, and what they're made of.
Sensor design
SIFT is a small collector on a lander leg. It sorts plume dust by size, and a spectrometer reads it.
On the lander
Engine plume
SIFT on a leg, inlet facing the plume
Dust spray, low and fast
Inside SIFT
Spectrometer
Vent
Vent
1Exhaust gas and dust enter the inlet.
2The gas turns outward toward the vents. Heavy grains can't turn.
3Grains land by size: large in the center, fine at the edge.
4A spectrometer under the window plate reads each ring.
Grain sizelargemediumfine
Spectra and findings
One spectrometer scan across the deposit, from center to edge.
Top view of the deposit
Center · large grains
Sharp mineral peaks. Plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine are easy to tell apart.
Middle ring · medium grains
Smaller peaks on some glass background. Minerals and glass are mixed.
Outer ring · fine grains
Weak peaks on broad glass bands. Space-weathered fines that carry the most surface volatiles.