Planning Considerations for a Mars Sample Receiving Facility: Summary and Interpretation of Three Design Studies

Abstract

It has been widely understood for many years that an essential component of a Mars Sample Return mission is a Sample Receiving Facility (SRF). The purpose of such a facility would be to take delivery of the flight hardware that lands on Earth, open the spacecraft and extract the sample container and samples, and conduct an agreedupon test protocol, while ensuring strict containment and contamination control of the samples while in the SRF. Any samples that are found to be non-hazardous (or are rendered non-hazardous by sterilization) would then be transferred to long-term curation. Although the general concept of an SRF is relatively straightforward, there has been considerable discussion about implementation planning.The Mars Exploration Program carried out an analysis of the attributes of an SRF to establish its scope, including minimum size and functionality, budgetary requirements (capital cost, operating costs, cost profile), and development schedule. The approach was to arrange for three independent design studies, each led by an architectural design firm, and compare the results. While there were many design elements in common identified by each study team, there were significant differences in the way human operators were to interact with the systems. In aggregate, the design studies provided insight into the attributes of a future SRF and the complex factors to consider for future programmatic planning.

Advanced Curation of Astromaterials for Planetary Science

“…However, achieving a better leak rate on double-walled isolated containment may require additional engineering development and challenges. While there have been some studies exploring how these requirements could be implemented (Beaty et al 2009), these studies need to be updated to reflect some significant shifts in possible facility usage (e.g. no animal studies, long-term use, multi-mission use).…”

EURO-CARES - A European Sample Curation Facility for Sample Return Missions

“…The objective was to define the state-of-the-art facilities required to receive, contain, and curate extra-terrestrial samples whilst attempting to meet terrestrial planetary protection requirements. A review of previous studies was carried out (including studies such as [8][9][10]). All the aspects of building design, ranging from sample reception to their storage/curation were covered.…”

iMARS Phase 2

“…While previous sample return missions can help inform planning for an MSR campaign, samples returned from Mars will present unique challenges for preliminary examination, access, allocation, data rights and curation (e.g., Allton et al, 1998 ; Neal, 2000 ; Beaty et al, 2009 ) that must be thoroughly addressed well ahead of receiving samples on Earth. Table 2-4 summarises issues relevant to Mars sample analysis and distribution and relevant experience with previous sample return missions.…”

“…Moreover, the MSR campaign will require a long-term program of cutting-edge preliminary examination, including evaluation for biology and other potential hazards. The BSL-4 SRF facility will need to contain extensive instrumentation to enable the conduct of measurements required for planetary protection and preliminary characterization (Beaty et al, 2009 ).…”

“…In contrast, current extraterrestrial-sample return and curation facilities (NASA/JSC, JAXA) have limited analytical capabilities. Existing facilities have not had to deal with BSL-4 containment and only rarely with ultraclean analytical laboratories of the level required for Mars samples (Beaty et al, 2009 ).…”