Biology
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p33d1788r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P33D-1788
Biology
[5200] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars, [6297] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Instruments And Techniques
Scientific paper
In the long history of studying Mars sample return missions (now in its 5th decade), there have been several constant constraints on the flight systems and the post-mission analyses of the samples. Sample selection, sample packaging, sample environmental conditions, and the transportation problem of getting the sampling system to Mars and the sample back, safely, are puzzles that are still with us. Those problems drive the mass, power, volume, and cost of mission(s) to return samples from the surface and near-surface of Mars, and there is no reason to think that they will go away anytime soon. Accordingly, a Mars sample return mission will stay expensive and technologically challenging. But what of the post-mission analyses on the sample, themselves? The problem of how to conduct a satisfactory analysis of Mars samples, on Earth, also remains. Those analyses are not only a cost driver, but a major factor in overall mission success. How does one examine "clean" Mars samples, and even check them for life or other potential hazards, when the Earth is effectively bathed in living organisms and other potential contaminants? How can the rest of the mission be worthwhile, if the samples returned become tainted after they reach Earth? Studies of the entire Mars sample return mission architecture have consistently called for the development of a sample-receiving facility and its associated biohazard-test protocol, instrumentation, and operations to be included in the earliest phases of the Mars sample return mission (cf., 1). It has also been noted that "considering the stringent contamination control constraints, together with the small size of samples that need to be manipulated, robotic systems may be a good choice as an integral part of the sample handling chain" (2). This paper will discuss the overall application of robotics technology to Mars sample-handling, and to organic and chemical contamination control to protect the samples and the ability to achieve back contamination control for planetary protection, as well. It is clear that in other fields such as surgery (cf., 3) as well as in the manufacturing and test sector that proven robotic technologies are available that can be adapted for these sample analysis tasks. Now is the time for programmatic and technical accommodations to be made to bring these technologies into the armamentarium of the community of sample scientists-and to provide them to those who will be implementing planetary protection protocols. These groups will need to be able to use robotic techniques with skill and confidence when a sample from Mars is brought to Earth by a future mission, and it will take positive, agency action to develop those capabilities, starting now.
Allen Christine
Rummel John D.
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