Time of flight mass spectrometer coupled to a core sample source

In one aspect, a time-of-flight mass spectrometer includes a source comprising a backing plate configured to operably couple to a core sample containing component, and an acceleration region. The time-of-flight mass spectrometer also includes a time-of-flight mass analyzer operably associated with the source region. In some embodiments, the core sample core sample containing component is a coring drill bit. In some embodiments, core containing component is configured to couple to the backing plate of the source region from the opposite side of the acceleration region. In some embodiments, core containing component is configured to couple to the backing plate of the source region on the acceleration region side of the backing plate. In some embodiments, the acceleration region is a single-stage acceleration region. In other embodiments, the acceleration region is a two-stage acceleration region.