Computer Science
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..923m&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a
Computer Science
Scientific paper
The analysis of ET matter returned by space missions started with the Apollo and Luna missions and allowed exceptional insight into planetary formation processes as well as composition of the solar system including the Sun. Having ET samples in the lab permits elemental and isotopic analysis at a precision that is, and will be, impossible to attain by direct spacecraft measurements. This is the case for instance of rock dating, a key measurement to understand the early history of the solar system. The Apollo missions returned 380 Kg of rocks and soil from the Moon. Since then, only two missions have returned ET samples from space, Genesis (NASA discovery program) which sampled solar wind ions during 27 months, and Stardust (also NASA discovery program) which returned cometary grains sampled in the tail of comet Wild2/P. The amount of sample recovered by these missions is of the order of the microgram or less, 12 orders of magnitude less than the Apollo missions. This difference is likely to be a constant of the next sample return missions and scientists have to develop instruments able to analyse such extremely limited samples, like laser ablation coupled with mass spectrometry, electron and ion probes, synchrotron radiation etc. The science community has also to work in the framework of consortia where the aim of each group is integrated in a suite of analytical protocols that respect as far as possible the integrity of the samples. These sample return missions are nevertheless essential to explore the composition of the solar system, its heterogeneity, and processes having shaped it 4.5 Ga ago. They also allow the science community to develop a know-how that will be essential for the analysis of samples returned from Mars in, we hope, the not so far future.
Burnard Pete
Marty Bernard
Zimmermann Lars
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