Abstract
A miniaturized x-ray tube specialized for in-situ x-ray fluorescence and diffraction analyses of rocks and powder samples is being developed. Our primary motivation for the miniaturization is to mount tubes on spacecraft for a future Japanese lunar lander/rover mission, which is the next Japanese lunar exploration program to the SELENE lunar orbiter, and perform remote controlled x-ray generators. Possible x-ray instruments for the mission would be: the x-ray fluorescence/diffraction analyzer on the lander, and the x-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the arm of the rover. For the miniaturization and the future operations on the lunar surface, carbon nanotube based field-emission-type (CNT-FE) x-ray tube was adopted. Due to FE's high electron current density and no need to heat itself up, the downsized x-ray tube is attainable with simple cathode dimension. In this presentation, we show the first test model of the CNT-FE miniaturized x-ray tube and results of its initial successful experiments.
