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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Clean is not Sterile: A Planetary Science and Planetary Protection Perspective on Cleanroom Microbiology at NASA

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA is responsible for the curation of extraterrestrial samples from NASA’s past and future sample return missions. Our office curates samples from the moon, meteorites, comets, asteroids, cosmic dust and solar wind particles. All these samples are kept in cleanrooms to limit particulate and trace metal contamination, but none of these cleanrooms are specifically designed to control microbial contamination. During the early Apollo missions NASA scientists were very concerned with protecting the Earth from potential microbial contamination from the moon and with protecting the lunar samples from terrestrial microbes. NASA developed specialized equipment and clean rooms to keep these collections pristine. However, as we learned more about the lunar environment our concerns about microbial contamination lessened. Today none of the existing collections have microbial contamination requirements because they are not considered susceptible to microbial alteration under curation conditions (e.g. solar wind samples, and lunar samples) or have already been contaminated by terrestrial biology (meteorites collected in Antarctica). However, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will land in 2023 with samples from a carbon rich asteroid that will be susceptible to microbial alteration. The Perseverance rover on Mars will begin to collect and cache samples that will be returned to Earth as soon as 2031. Martian samples may contain signs of extraterrestrial life and will have to be treated like the early Apollo samples. Martian samples will be isolated to protect the Earth, and must also be protected from terrestrial contamination. I will present microbial monitoring data from existing NASA cleanrooms and discuss how NASA is planning to use techniques from the pharmaceutical industry and academia to design new laboratories and equipment that will protect astromaterials and the earth from unwanted microbial contamination. I will also discuss a project to sample the external microbiome of the International Space Station. Results from this research will be used to design facilities for use on Mars that limit the amount of contamination associated with crewed missions.

Aaron B Regberg↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars 2020's First Sample: The Fractured Rough Rock Unit on the Floor of Jezero Crater

A central goal of the Mars 2020 mission is to select and cache samples for future return to Earth. The first samples targeted for collection are from the crater-retaining, Crater Floor Fractured Rough (CF-Fr) unit of Stack et al., 2020.The CF-Fr unit is a topographically low unit in the current Jezero setting, likely overlain by morphologically discrete units, including possible Jezero delta deposits and eolian features. CF-Fr is an aerially extensive unit with lobate margins. Two distinct morphologies are observed: a locally-exposed lower expression, with flat relatively horizontal light-toned surfaces and polygonal fracturing, and an upper expression consisting of up to ~5vertical meters of massive, sometimes boulder-producing, material. The locally-exposed lower expression appears to represent a local ground level in which the upper material has been removed. Near the Octavia E. Butler landing site, the lower morphology is exposed as polygonally-fractured, light-toned bedrock that appears to grade continuously into higher-standing massive outcrops, often with no clearly exposed contact. Further south, a darker upper expression of the CF-Fr unit is more distinct and the unit exhibits some horizontal layering. The Perseverance rover will initially sample the flat-lying expression of this unit. Hypotheses for the origin of CF-Fr include fluvial, aeolian, or lacustrine sediment likely derived from the Jezero watershed, and/or pyroclastic material resulting from regional volcanism. Geochronology of the returned sample could be used to help constrain the timing of geological events in Jezero. It may also help constrain stratigraphic relationships with crater-retaining units outside of Jezero within the Nili Planum, which could be used to calibrate the cratering chronology of Mars. Paleomagnetic analyses of an oriented sample could establish the history of the martian dynamo and whether it persisted into the Hesperian. Finally, if present, secondary phases within the primary deposit would help constrain diagenetic conditions and inform post-depositional aqueous and potentially habitable environmental conditions.

Justin I Simon↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Calibration and Validation of the SHERLOC Instrument Operating in Jezero Crater, Mars

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemistry (SHERLOC) is an instrument onboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. It consists of a spectrometer that measures deep ultraviolet (DUV) resonance Raman and native fluorescence photons generated through surface interactions with a 248.6 nm pulsed laser. Two microscopic imagers, the Autofocus Context Imager (ACI) and the Wide-Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON), provide high-resolution context images of SHERLOC targets. The ACI is co-boresighted with the spectrometer. To ensure proper calibration, the SHERLOC calibration target (SCT) is mounted on the front of the rover and consists of ten different materials. The SCT was designed, fabricated, assembled, and tested by Jacobs Technology, Inc., and NASA Johnson Space Center. The dimensions of the calibration target housing are 150 x 89 x 33 mm and it weighs ~437 g. The ten targets are arranged in two rows; the first six are hard targets (AlGaN for Raman and fluorescence, diffuse transmission target, a slice of the SaU008 Mars meteorite, an intensity maze, and polycarbonate over geocache coin) and the remaining four are soft-goods targets (Vectran, Ortho-Fabric, Teflon, and nGimat-coated Teflon). The hard targets calibrate the spectrometer’s Raman and fluorescence spectral accuracy, ambient light reflection, and Raman response curve, while the soft-goods targets are spacesuit materials that function as human exploration targets, some of which are also used for spectral calibration. SHERLOC also has an internal calibration target consisting of AlGaN on sapphire (275 nm) located inside the ACI opaque dust cover to ensure proper instrument functioning between calibration target analyses. Initial SHERLOC, ACI, and WATSON calibration and validation on Mars was performed using the internal calibration target on sols 59, 83, 98, and 141; WATSON imaging of the SCT on sols 26 and 62, and SHERLOC spectroscopy and ACI imaging of the SCT on sol 59. These early data provide initial insights into instrument performance and the stability and degradation of the calibration target materials relative to the Martian surface and dust environment. Early observations also have implications for future astronaut spacesuit materials.

Trevor G Graff↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploring rock-regolith interfaces in Jezero crater with Mars 2020 SHERLOC

The Perseverance rover successfully landed in Jezero crater, Mars in February 2021 at the Octavia E. Butler landing site and began its mission to explore and sample an ancient crater lake basin. Principal goals of the Mars 2020 mission include characterizing the geology of Mars and seeking signs of ancient microbial life via the spacecraft cameras and spectroscopic instruments onboard. The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument is a deep UV Raman spectrometer that utilizes a 248.6nm pulsed laser. Part of SHERLOC is a color camera known as the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON). The SHERLOC suite provides coordinated, spectroscopic and imaging capabilities at high spatial resolution, to detect minerals and organic molecules in microtextural context. By pairing high spatial resolution (~100 μm) resonance Raman and native fluorescence spectroscopy with microscopic imaging in a novel spacecraft capability, SHERLOC enables texture-specific molecular composition measurements of rock and regolith targets on Mars. Coordinated rock-regolith observations illuminate unique insights into weathering processes and thereby to primary properties of rocks in Jezero crater. This work describes the potential of rock-regolith interfaces to preserve unique records of geological processes in Jezero crater and can powerfully supplement observations of the more general rock record on Mars. Linking observations of local rock texture with associated regolith reveals important lithologic information based on the interrelationship between differential weathering behavior and mineralogy, grain size, and cement chemistry. Preliminary observations indicate that the polygonally fractured lithotype common near the Octavia E. Butler landing site may weather by granular disintegration and/or surface creep, a relation that can be uniquely observed at the rock-regolith interface. SHERLOC -specific observations of microtextural and elemental composition transitions presented here trace rock-regolith boundaries at multiple indurated surfaces adjacent to regolith. At these locales, grain-scale based examinations suggest chemical weathering could be related to a variably distributed coating or rind on dark rock targets that may be mafic in composition. Granule deposits overlying widely distributed fine-grained material are also observable. Mineral identifications of each phase are presented, with cross-scale comparisons to the remote insights gained by the SuperCam instrument.

Emily L. Cardarelli↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars 2020 – Landing a 1-ton rover and helicopter in an ancient Martian Lake

The Mars 2020 spacecraft launched in July 2020 and landed the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter successfully in Jezero crater on Feb. 18, 2021. Mars 2020 is the first stage of the Mars Sample Return campaign that will bring back the first samples from another planet to Earth. The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of the Mars 2020 spacecraft largely leveraged the previous Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission from 2012. Mars 2020 retained most of the EDL sequences of MSL, including active maneuvering during hypersonic flight to accurately target the landing site and use of the Skycrane descent stage that slowly lowered the rover while hovering above the ground. But Mars 2020 also added Terrain Relative Navigation, a machine vision-based system that allowed the spacecraft to navigate using an on-board camera that mapped ground landmarks to an on-board map, allowing the spacecraft to safely land in locations that were too hazardous for any previous Martian mission. Come hear about the “Seven Minutes of Terror” and the eight years of effort that went into the engineering behind the spacecraft.

Soumyo Dutta↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ASPIRE Aerodynamic Models and Flight Performance

The Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiments (ASPIRE) project was launched in 2016 to develop a capability for testing supersonic parachutes at Mars-relevant conditions. Three parachute tests successfully tested two candidate parachute designs and qualified a parachute for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission (that successfully delivered Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars in Feb 2021). To achieve Mars-relevant densities, these parachutes were deployed at targeted conditions at high altitudes over Earth, launched via sounding rockets. ASPIRE Flight Tests provided valuable data on parachute inflation, forces, and aerodynamic behavior. Design of the flight tests depended on flight mechanics simulations which in turn required aerodynamic models for the payload, and the parachute. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to generate these models pre-flight and they are compared against the flight data after the tests. This talk will go over some aspects of the test design, development of pre-flight models, and comparison with flight test data.

Flight Test↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Post-flight Analysis of Atmospheric Properties from Mars 2020 Entry, Descent, and Landing

The Mars 2020 spacecraft landed the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter successfully in Jezero crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of the spacecraft largely leveraged the previous Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The atmospheric modeling approach for Mars 2020 was also borrowed from MSL, and consisted of utilizing two mesoscale atmospheric models of the landing site during the Martian season of landing, and using that data to create a statistical model of the pressure, density, temperature, and winds that Mars 2020 could have expected to encounter. Additionally, Mars 2020 contained an optical sensor - Landing Vision System (LVS) - that relied on taking pictures of the terrain, and was sensitive to the dust opacity of the atmosphere. This paper will briefly describe the pre-flight atmospheric models used for Mars 2020, but will focus on post-flight assessment of these models by comparing them to near-landing day orbiter sounder data and onboard atmospheric measurements. Suggestions for potential model changes will be also discussed.

Soumyo Dutta↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 Trajectory, Aerodynamics, and Atmosphere Reconstruction

On February 18th, 2021, the Mars 2020 entry system successfully delivered the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars at Jezero Crater. The entry capsule carried a set of instrumentation installed on the heat shield and backshell, named the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2. The instruments include pressure transducers, thermocouples, heat flux gauges, and radiometers to measure the aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic performance of the entry vehicle. This paper describes the trajectory and atmosphere reconstruction results based on the pressure sensor measurements. The process uses a Kalman filter approach to estimate the freestream atmospheric properties from the pressure measurements combined with a model of the pressure distribution of the heatshield and other sensor inputs, including an inertial measurement unit and other on-board navigation sensors, and several external atmospheric observations. The results indicate upper altitude density was up to 150% higher than nominal, which is consistent with the observed early entry guidance start time. The density below 40 km was within 12% the pre-flight predictions. The reconstructed axial force coefficient was approximately 2% lower than the pre-flight prediction across the flight range.

Christopher D Karlgaard↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Inverse Estimation of Mars 2020 Entry Aeroheating Environments Using MEDLI2 Flight Data

The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected heating and pressure data during entry into Mars' atmosphere of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. MEDLI2 included thermocouples, heat flux sensors, and pressure transducers on both the heatshield and the backshell. This paper covers the inverse estimation of heatshield and backshell surface heating based on the MEDLI2 Instrumented Sensor Plugs (MISPs), a network of thermocouples embedded in thermal protection system plugs across the aeroshell. Monte Carlo analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the surface heat rate and temperature to uncertainties in thermocouple depth and material properties such as density, specific heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. Data from each MISP was also used to estimate the local time of transition from laminar to turbulent flow at each plug location.

Hannah S Alpert↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Post-flight Analysis of Atmospheric Properties from Mars 2020 Entry, Descent, and Landing

Soumyo Dutta↗

NASA NTRS2022

Mars Entry Instrumentation Flight Data and Mars 2020 Entry Environments

On February 18th, 2021, the Mars 2020 entry vehicle delivered the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars. The entry vehicle carried a set of instrumentation installed on the heatshield and backshell to measure aerodynamic and aerothermal performance, named the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2. This set of instrumentation included pressure transducers, thermocouples, heatflux sensors, and a radiometer, as well as a dedicated sensor support electronics system. All MEDLI2 hardware operated as expected during cruise and entry. MEDLI2 sensors gathered accurate pressure measurements in hypersonic through supersonic regimes to reconstruct vehicle attitude and atmospheric profiles. MEDLI2 on the heatshield sensors indicated that surface temperatures, caused by turbulent heating beginning 70 seconds after entry, remained at or below 1430 °C, while heatshield bondline temperatures rose less than 45 °C. Backshell surface TPS temperatures peaked at 630 °C, which was caused primarily by radiative heating measured by several separate sensors. The MEDLI2 temperature and pressure measurements enabled further detailed characterization of the Mars 2020 entry performance, and the flight dataset will provide a wealth of information for the EDL community and future mission designers.

thermal protection system↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Entry Instrumentation Flight Data and Mars 2020 Entry Environments

thermal protection systems↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TEM and XRD Investigation of Impact Glass Alteration Products: Amorphous Materials, Phyllosilicates and Everything in Between

Impact cratering is one of the most ubiquitous geologic processes shaping the surface of all solid bodies in our solar system. Impacts are also a major source of clay minerals and poorly crystalline, clay-like materials on Earth and Mars[1,2].These phyllosilicates and related clay-like phases comprise an incredibly complex group of materials, and their characterization, even in controlled laboratory settings, remains a challenging endeavor. The nature and origin of clay minerals and amorphous materials on Mars, which form a major component (~20-70 wt %) of rock and soil samples in Gale Crater as determined by the CheMin instrument on Curiosity, have remained ambiguous[3]. These amorphous phases likely fall on a spectrum between pristine volcanic and/or impact-produced primary materials and clay minerals and related phases formed from aqueous alteration. Amorphous materials are common weathering products in terrestrial sediments, soils, and paleosols [e.g., 4,5].Primary impact materials (glass, melt rocks)are comparable in some ways to those generated volcanically [6], and so it may be possible that an amorphous component is preserved within altered impactites. There are hundreds of thousands of impact craters on Mars, and Curiosity and Perseverance are currently exploring ancient impact craters. We hypothesize that the sediments and lithologies in Gale and Jezero Craters and elsewhere contain altered impact products; it is therefore important to better understand the composition and structure of these materials. Here we present the first results from a study characterizing materials produced from impact glass alteration–clay minerals, poorly crystalline/amorphous materials–in terrestrial craters using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD)and chemical (EDS) analysis.

Impact crater↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Search for Chiral Asymmetry as a Potential Biosignature in Samples from Mars

The search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in our solar system has been guided by our under-standing of terrestrial biology and its associated biosignatures. The observed homochirality in all life on Earth, that is, the predominance of “left-handed” or L-amino acids and “right-handed” or D-sugars, is a unique property of life that is crucial for molecular recognition, enzymatic function, information storage and structure, and is thought to be a prerequisite for the origin or early evolution of life. Therefore, the detection of L- or D-excesses of chiral amino acids or sugars could be a powerful indicator of extant or extinct life on Mars or other habitable environments in our solar system. However, studies of primitive meteorites have revealed that they contain extraterrestrial amino acids and sugar acids with large enantiomeric excesses (60% and higher) that resulted from non-biological processes [1], complicating the use of chiral asymmetry by itself as a definitive biosignature. The exploration of habitable environments on Mars, including an assessment of the preservation potential for complex organics of either abiotic or biological origin, is an objective of both current and future Mars missions. Now with the unambiguous detection of indigenous organic matter in sedimentary rocks by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Mars [2-5], NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence of the preservation of potential chemical biosignatures in the martian near surface. Although amino acids have not yet been identified by in situ measurements on Mars [5], indigenous achiral amino acids have been identified in one martian meteorite [6]. It is expected that amino acid racemization would be very slow and any chiral or isotopic signatures from an extinct martian biota could be preserved for billions of years, given the extremely cold and dry surface conditions [7]. The ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars mission scheduled for launch next year includes the Rosalind Franklin rover designed to acquire samples from a depth of ~2 m and deliver them to a suite of instruments, including the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA). The MOMA instrument contains a wet chemistry experiment designed specifically for the detection of amino acids and measurement of their enantiomeric compositions [8]. The complexity and limited duration of spaceflight operations, and the known analytical challenges associated with in situ extraction and characterization of trace reduced organic com-pounds in ancient rocks, make it challenging to determine the origins of martian organic matter found to date. Coordinated state-of-the-art laboratory measurements of returned samples from Mars that include spatially resolved chemical, mineralogical, bulk and molecule-specific isotopic, and enantiomeric measurements will be required to firmly establish whether the complex organic matter detected on Mars derives from bio-tic or abiotic processes. Ultimately, Mars Sample Return of rock cores collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover may be our best chance of identifying chemical biosignatures, including any chiral amino acid asymmetry resulting from a past or present martian biota, if one ever existed on Mars. Here we review our current knowledge of the distributions, and enantiomeric and isotopic com-positions of amino acids found in meteorites compared to terrestrial biochemistry. We also propose a set of measurement criteria that should be used to help establish the sources of any amino acids detected in samples returned from Mars using state-of-the-art gas and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry techniques [1].

D P Glavin↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview and Initial Results of DIGMARS: Digging Iceland Geology for Mars Analog Research Science

Preserved in the sedimentary rocks of Mars is a rich record of ancient surface environments and burial diagenesis. Sequences of sandstones and mudstones that indicate sedimentation in deltaic and lacustrine environments have been encountered by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater and likely will be by the Perseverance rover in Jezero crater [1-3]. The compositional variability in these sedimentary rocks points to a complex diagenetic story that bears significantly on the basin history and early martian environment. Because interaction of percolating groundwaters and with unconsolidated sediments is a process commonly observed in lacustrine environments on Earth [4], groundwater has been invoked to develop a sedimentary history for Gale crater [e.g., 5-9]. Unique conceptual models, each with their own implications for the paleoenvironment and hydrologic conditions have been put forward. However, we currently lack a terrestrial reference frame for groundwater-driven diagenesis in a basalt dominated watersheds on Earth. The Digging Iceland Geology for Mars Analog Research Science (DIGMARS) project aims to close this research gap, with the goal of exploring groundwater-sediment interaction from lakes around Iceland. Here, we present the initial results for the 2021 field campaign and the laboratory analysis of aqueous and sediment samples.

M T Thorpe↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Space Suit Materials Testing Using SHERLOC Calibration Target Data: The Max-CF Project

The Mars 2020/“Perseverance” rover carries a suite of space suit materials as part of the SHERLOC* calibration target [1]. The materials are periodically analyzed by SHERLOC as part of a regular calibration routine and are generating a rich data set regarding their degradation in the martian surface environment. The Maximization of Calibration Fabrics (Max-CF) project will effectively turn SHERLOC data into a measure of space suit material service lifetimes by exposing a second set of materials in a Mars chamber, replicating SHERLOC measurements using the analogous ACRONM** instrument at JSC, and then performing materials testing to include tensile testing. These data can be used to inform space suit design and/or materials development, improving crew safety for future Mars missions. This will partially address NASA’s Strategic Knowledge Gap 8 (Mars Surface Technology) which identifies a need to develop technologies to “sustain humans on the surface of Mars [and] enable human mobility and exploration” [2]. This abstract describes the overall Max-CF project and progress on the laboratory-based study to date.

M Fries↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

On the Hunt for Detectable Biosignatures in Jezero Crater: What to Look for and Where

Introduction: The Perseverance rover, which is currently exploring Jezero crater on Mars, is equipped with seven instruments that allow for observation of textures, minerals, color, structure, and chemistry of rocks and sediments in order to search for signs of ancient life, understand the geologic history of the crater, and identify candidates for sample return (Farley et al. 2020). The first of these aims includes the direct detection of potential biosignatures, including textures, organic molecules, minerals, and elemental chemistries that are of biogenic origin (Mustard et al. 2013). The presence of these biosignatures will be constrained by the habitability of the local region, the preservation potential of the host rocks, and the sensitivity of the instrument suite, and their biogenicity will be investigated after return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. Here, we examine key targets on the three planned campaigns, potential biosignatures that may be present, and the capabilities of key rover instruments. High Potential Biosignature Sites in Jezero: To date, measurements have been made on multiple sites that both contain minerals known in terrestrial settings to preserve biosignatures and likely were habitable settings (Williford et al. 2021). Two examples include the fine-grained rocks at the base of the delta fan and the NW inner margin of the crater. Fine-grained Rocks at Base of Delta Fan. Fine-grained, clay-bearing rocks may have been deposited as muddy lake sediments that could have hosted life and preserved biosignatures settling out of the water column. The report of organic molecules by the Curiosity rover in the Sheepbed mudstone and Murray formation has highlighted this site in particular. Potential biosignatures in mudstones, especially those rich in silica (McMahon et al. 2018), microbialites and complex organics. NW Inner Margin of Crater. This unit, located along the inner margin of the crater, contains strong carbonate signatures and may have been the littoral zone of a lake (Horgan et al. 2020). The potential biosignatures here include microfossils, microbialites, biominerals, and complex organics. Detectability of Biosignatures by the Mars 2020 Instrument Suite: The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument comprises a Deep UV spectrometer, context imager, and color camera to generate spatially resolved chemical maps (Bhartia et al. 2020). It is sensitive to trace organics as well as a range of minerals and can detect native fluorescence from aromatic organics; the WATSON and ACI cameras can be used to observe morphologies such as stromatolitic laminations or filaments ranging from the tens of micron to millimeter scale. SHERLOC can detect organics that may be present in either of the high potential biosignature targets, as well as detect carbonates in the latter. However, the presence of high amounts of iron, such as in iron-rich clays, would cause attenuation of spectral response through UV absorption. The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) comprises an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and camera that can scan rock surfaces to generate elemental maps (Allwood et al. 2020). PIXL can detect chemical biosignatures such as spatial variations of elemental abundances that may have resulted from biological activity. PIXL would be particularly useful in detecting fine textures and elemental chemistries in either high potential biosignature target, but cannot directly detect minerals such as carbonate. The SuperCam instrument performs three types of spectroscopy, color imaging, and acoustic recording to remotely examine elemental composition, minerals, organics, and textures (Maurice et al. 2021). Using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy and time resolved luminescence spectroscopy, SuperCam can detect major elemental building blocks of organics (i.e., C, H, N, O, P, S) and conjugated organic structures, respectively, which may be found in either site. While in other contexts, luminescence is a useful tool for biosignature identification, luminescence generated by the 532 nm laser may obscure the Raman signal. Conclusion: The three instruments discussed can be used collaboratively to establish the presence of potential biosignatures in samples. These high-priority samples may then be returned to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

S. Sharma↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Crater Retention Observations of the Crater Floor–Fractured Rough Unit in Jezero Crater

A main goal of the Mars2020 Perseverance Rover mission is to provide a compelling suite of samples for eventual return to Earth [1]. A high priority goal for Mars Sample Return is calibrating Mars’ crater retention isochrons that are used to date geologic surfaces and events across the planet [2]. Several factors are necessary to consider what type of rock would be most useful for this purpose: ability to retain craters across a large exposure, access to drillable outcrop, identifiable stratigraphic context, and understanding why this specific rock type preferentially retains crater morphology. Now that we’ve seen the surface and sampled some of the main constituent outcrops on the Crater Floor – Fractured Rough unit [3, Simon et al, this conference] (Figure 1), we can begin assessing which rocks can help us achieve this important goal to not only understand the age relationships between stratigraphic units in Jezero crater, but also improve age estimates across Mars.

Mars 2020↗