A portable scanner is presented that is especially suited for x-ray inspection of packages that are left behind on rough terrain. An x-ray source and a linear detector are used to implement a transmissive x-ray imaging of an object or a package. A special feature of this invention is that the linear detector is first placed horizontally on the ground or the rough terrain and vertically moved upwards to implement the scan. The detector may be moved upwards either in an angular movement or in a linear motion.
