Abstract In 2009, the Canadian Space Agency funded a project to create a field-deployable
high-resolution microscope with 3D and multispectral capabilities. The instrument, called the
Three-dimensional Exploration Multispectral Microscopic Imager, or TEMMI, was designed
to be mounted on the manipulator-arm of a robotic rover for use in analogue planetary
exploration missions. TEMMI can acquire images with a resolution as high as 2.2 μm/pixel
for an area 5.7× 2.1 mm in size. As a result, grains sizes as small as∼ 6.6 μm (very fine silt) …

A microscope represents one of the most basic tools required for geology and astrobiology,
and it is anticipated that most, if not all, future surface missions to the Moon and Mars will
carry one. TEMMI (a Three-dimensional Exploration Multispectral Microscopic Imager) has
been developed through a collaborative initiative, spearheaded by the Canadian Space
Agency, involving two industrial partners–MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associated Ltd (MDA),
and National Optics Institute (INO)–and three academic science partners–The University of …