Newswise — Dr. John G. Stevens, director of the international Mössbauer Effect Data Center, is available to discuss how spectrometers work and their role in the Mars mission.

The Mössbauer Effect Data Center, located at UNC Asheville for the past 30 years, is the repository for scientific data from more than 100 Mössbauer scientists from around the world. Information from the Mössbauer research database is being used by NASA's Mars Exploration scientific team to identify the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals found in rocks examined by the Mars rover.