Preliminary Planning for Mars Sample Return (MSR) Curation Activities in a Sample Receiving Facility
Kimberly Tait
(1)
,
Francis Mccubbin
(2)
,
Caroline Smith
(3, 4)
,
Carl Agee
(5)
,
Henner Busemann
(6)
,
Barbara Cavalazzi
(7)
,
Vinciane Debaille
(8)
,
Aurore Hutzler
(9)
,
Tomohiro Usui
(10)
,
Gerhard Kminek
(9)
,
Michael Meyer
(11)
,
David Beaty
(12)
,
Brandi Lee Carrier
(12)
,
Timothy Haltigin
(13)
,
Lindsay Hays
(11)
,
Charles Cockell
(14)
,
Daniel Glavin
(15)
,
Monica Grady
(16)
,
Ernst Hauber
(17)
,
Bernard Marty
(18)
,
Lisa Pratt
(19)
,
Aaron Regberg
(2)
,
Alvin Smith
(12)
,
Roger Summons
(20)
,
Timothy Swindle
(21)
,
Nicholas Tosca
(22)
,
Arya Udry
(23)
,
Michael Velbel
(24, 25)
,
Meenakshi Wadhwa
(26, 12)
,
Frances Westall
(27)
,
Maria-Paz Zorzano
(28)
1
Royal Ontario Museum
2 JSC - NASA Johnson Space Center
3 NHM - The Natural History Museum [London]
4 University of Glasgow
5 The University of New Mexico [Albuquerque]
6 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
7 UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna
8 ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles
9 ESA - Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency
10 JAXA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [Sagamihara]
11 NASA Headquarters
12 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
13 CSA - Canadian Space Agency
14 Edin. - University of Edinburgh
15 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
16 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]
17 DLR - German Aerospace Center
18 CRPG - Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques
19 Indiana University [Bloomington]
20 MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21 University of Arizona
22 CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]
23 WGU Nevada - University of Nevada [Las Vegas]
24 Michigan State University [East Lansing]
25 Smithsonian Institution
26 ASU - Arizona State University [Tempe]
27 CBM - Centre de biophysique moléculaire
28 University of Aberdeen
2 JSC - NASA Johnson Space Center
3 NHM - The Natural History Museum [London]
4 University of Glasgow
5 The University of New Mexico [Albuquerque]
6 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
7 UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna
8 ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles
9 ESA - Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency
10 JAXA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [Sagamihara]
11 NASA Headquarters
12 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
13 CSA - Canadian Space Agency
14 Edin. - University of Edinburgh
15 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
16 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]
17 DLR - German Aerospace Center
18 CRPG - Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques
19 Indiana University [Bloomington]
20 MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
21 University of Arizona
22 CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]
23 WGU Nevada - University of Nevada [Las Vegas]
24 Michigan State University [East Lansing]
25 Smithsonian Institution
26 ASU - Arizona State University [Tempe]
27 CBM - Centre de biophysique moléculaire
28 University of Aberdeen
Barbara Cavalazzi
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 763255
- ORCID : 0000-0002-5135-9529
Vinciane Debaille
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 756973
- ORCID : 0000-0002-6544-4564
Ernst Hauber
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 755468
- ORCID : 0000-0002-1375-304X
Frances Westall
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 741728
- IdHAL : frances-westall
- ORCID : 0000-0002-1938-5823
- IdRef : 113956851
Résumé
The Mars Sample Return Planning Group 2 (MSPG2) was tasked with identifying the steps that encompass all the curation activities that would happen within the MSR Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) and any anticipated curation-related requirements. An area of specific interest is the necessary analytical instrumentation. The SRF would be a Biosafety Level-4 facility where the returned MSR flight hardware would be opened, the sample tubes accessed, and the martian sample material extracted from the tubes. Characterization of the essential attributes of each sample would be required to provide enough information to prepare a sample catalog used in guiding the preparation of sample-related proposals by the world's research community and informing decisions by the sample allocation committee. The sample catalog would be populated with data and information generated during all phases of activity, including data derived concurrent with Mars 2020 sample-collecting rover activity, sample transport to Earth, and initial sample characterization within the SRF. We conclude that initial sample characterization can best be planned as a set of three sequential phases, which we have called Pre-Basic Characterization (Pre-BC), Basic Characterization (BC), and Preliminary Examination (PE), each of which requires a certain amount of instrumentation. Data on specific samples and subsamples obtained during sample safety assessments and time-sensitive scientific investigations would also be added to the catalog. There are several areas where future work would be beneficial to prepare for the receipt of samples, which would include the design of a sample tube isolation chamber and a strategy for opening the sample tubes and removing dust from the tube exteriors.