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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 NTRS2022

Perseverance Rover Collision Model for a range of Autonomous Behaviors

The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater on Mars on 18 February 2021. It is a science mission to collect and cache sample cores for possible return to Earth in the future. Robot collision modeling is traditionally used in robotics for hardware safety for manipulation and sampling. The Mars 2020 Rover Collision Model (RCM) optimizes and extends collision checking in innovative ways to provide a range of onboard autonomous capability on a computationally constrained system. It provides an example of the benefit of systems and operations cognizant software design and development of autonomous systems.

Klein, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS2012

Strategies for Distinguishing Abiotic Chemistry from Martian Biochemistry in Samples Returned from Mars

A key goal in the search for evidence of extinct or extant life on Mars will be the identification of chemical biosignatures including complex organic molecules common to all life on Earth. These include amino acids, the monomer building blocks of proteins and enzymes, and nucleobases, which serve as the structural basis of information storage in DNA and RNA. However, many of these organic compounds can also be formed abiotically as demonstrated by their prevalence in carbonaceous meteorites [1]. Therefore, an important challenge in the search for evidence of life on Mars will be distinguishing between abiotic chemistry of either meteoritic or martian origin from any chemical biosignatures from an extinct or extant martian biota. Although current robotic missions to Mars, including the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the planned 2018 ExoMars rovers, will have the analytical capability needed to identify these key classes of organic molecules if present [2,3], return of a diverse suite of martian samples to Earth would allow for much more intensive laboratory studies using a broad array of extraction protocols and state-of-theart analytical techniques for bulk and spatially resolved characterization, molecular detection, and isotopic and enantiomeric compositions that may be required for unambiguous confirmation of martian life. Here we will describe current state-of-the-art laboratory analytical techniques that have been used to characterize the abundance and distribution of amino acids and nucleobases in meteorites, Apollo samples, and comet- exposed materials returned by the Stardust mission with an emphasis on their molecular characteristics that can be used to distinguish abiotic chemistry from biochemistry as we know it. The study of organic compounds in carbonaceous meteorites is highly relevant to Mars sample return analysis, since exogenous organic matter should have accumulated in the martian regolith over the last several billion years and the analytical techniques previously developed for the study of extraterrestrial materials can be applied to martian samples.

Glavin, D. P.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Geology of the Apollo 14 landing site.

Apollo 14 landed in the Fra Mauro region of the moon, within about 1,100 m of a 90 m high ridge of the Fra Mauro formation, interpreted as being ejecta from the Imbrium Basin. The primary geologic objective of the mission was to sample ejecta from Cone Crater, which is 340 m in diameter and penetrates at least 60 m into the ridge. Data from the mission strongly support the Imbrian ejecta origin for the Fra Mauro formation. Returned samples and photographs show that ejecta from Cone Crater is composed of composite breccias that include multiple clasts of still older, pre-Imbrian, breccias. Cone Crater ejecta displays a wide range of thermal metamorphism effects. Samples from the valley where the Lunar Module landed, which was not on a recognizable ray of ejecta from Cone Crater, are predominantly fines and poorly consolidated breccias formed by the disintegration of Fra Mauro rocks and probably are not volcanic rocks as had been postulated before the mission.

Sutton, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Carbon and Nitrogen Abundance, Distribution, and Isotopic Composition in Samples of Asteroid (101955) Bennu

Material from the B-type carbonaceous asteroid (101955) Bennu was returned on September 24, 2023, by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The mission brought back the largest sample of pristine primordial asteroidal material, largely free from the challenges of terrestrial contamination that are common in meteorite studies. The Bennu sample thus provides a unique source of material to investigate the abundance and isotopic signatures of C and N. The specific hypotheses tested by these analyses are whether Bennu contains macromolecular material and/or presolar grains similar to the populations found in CI and CM chondrites and recently returned samples from Ryugu.

M. M. Grady↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lessons Learned From the Construction of a Portable Cleanroom for NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission Deintegration

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Infrastructure and Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation Office completed construction and commissioning of the OSIRIS-REx (OREx) Deintegration portable cleanroom at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The new portable cleanroom was designed to receive the OREx sample return capsule from the landing point on the range to an ISO7 environment. Scientists used the portable clean-room to deintegrate the sample canister from the sample return capsule. Once separated, the sample canister was put in a container under nitrogen purge for transportation to B31 at the Johnson Space Center for astromaterial sample extraction, preliminary analysis, and long-term curation. The portable cleanroom was built by a subcontractor at their facility and then deconstructed to be transported to the remote location at UTTR. Since construction was completed in a remote location all tools and materials had to be transported from contractor site in Dallas, TX. The cleanroom was constructed within an existing facility, which provided conditioned air, electric power, and protection from the elements. Careful coordination was required between the host facility, cleanroom contractor, mission scientists, and JSC facilities and curation personnel. An existing anteroom at JSC was transported to UTTR and added to the portable cleanroom after there was concern about contamination without one for personnel entry/exit. The scientific study of organics is critical for the mission, so a stringent contamination control plan was implemented for low organics. Given these mission requirements the cleanroom construction materials were carefully selected to not hinder the scientific search for amino acids and the study of organics in the samples. The same cleanroom contractor that built the long-term astromaterial curation cleanroom back at JSC Houston, TX was selected to build the portable cleanroom and instructed to use the same materials. The cleanroom had double doors to open and allow the sample return capsule to fit into the cleanroom on its stand and be transferred to a clean stand already in the cleanroom. The portable cleanroom successfully completed its mission and the sample canister was safely deintegrated and transported to JSC under nitrogen purge.

astromaterials curation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Portable Cleanroom for NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission Deintegration

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Infrastructure and Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation Office completed construction and commissioning of the OSIRIS-REx (OREx) Deintegration portable cleanroom at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The new portable cleanroom was designed to receive the OREx sample return capsule from the landing point on the range to an ISO7 environment. Scientists used the portable clean-room to deintegrate the sample canister from the sample return capsule. Once separated, the sample canister was put in a container under nitrogen purge for transportation to B31 at the Johnson Space Center for astromaterial sample extraction, preliminary analysis, and long-term curation. The portable cleanroom was built by a subcontractor at their facility and then deconstructed to be transported to the remote location at UTTR. Since construction was completed in a remote location all tools and materials had to be transported from contractor site in Dallas, TX. The cleanroom was constructed within an existing facility, which provided conditioned air, electric power, and protection from the elements. Careful coordination was required between the host facility, cleanroom contractor, mission scientists, and JSC facilities and curation personnel. An existing anteroom at JSC was transported to UTTR and added to the portable cleanroom after there was concern about contamination without one for personnel entry/exit. The scientific study of organics is critical for the mission, so a stringent contamination control plan was implemented for low organics. Given these mission requirements the cleanroom construction materials were carefully selected to not hinder the scientific search for amino acids and the study of organics in the samples. The same cleanroom contractor that built the long-term astromaterial curation cleanroom back at JSC Houston, TX was selected to build the portable cleanroom and instructed to use the same materials. The cleanroom had double doors to open and allow the sample return capsule to fit into the cleanroom on its stand and be transferred to a clean stand already in the cleanroom. The portable cleanroom successfully completed its mission and the sample canister was safely deintegrated and transported to JSC under nitrogen purge.

astromaterials curation↗
NASA NTRS2002

Benefits of Nuclear Electric Propulsion for Outer Planet Exploration

Nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) offers significant benefits to missions for outer planet exploration. Reaching outer planet destinations, especially beyond Jupiter, is a struggle against time and distance. For relatively near missions, such as a Europa lander, conventional chemical propulsion and NEP offer similar performance and capabilities. For challenging missions such as a Pluto orbiter, neither chemical nor solar electric propulsion are capable while NEP offers acceptable performance. Three missions are compared in this paper: Europa lander, Pluto orbiter, and Titan sample return, illustrating how performance of conventional and advanced propulsion systems vary with increasing difficulty. The paper presents parametric trajectory performance data for NEP. Preliminary mass/performance estimates are provided for a Europa lander and a Titan sample return system, to derive net payloads for NEP. The NEP system delivers payloads and ascent/descent spacecraft to orbit around the target body, and for sample return, delivers the sample carrier system from Titan orbit to an Earth transfer trajectory. A representative scientific payload 500 kg was assumed, typical for a robotic mission. The resulting NEP systems are 100-kWe class, with specific impulse from 6000 to 9000 seconds.

Kos, Larry↗
NASA NTRS2014

Five-Channel Infrared Laser Absorption Spectrometer for Combustion Product Monitoring Aboard Manned Spacecraft

Continuous combustion product monitoring aboard manned spacecraft can prevent chronic exposure to hazardous compounds and also provides early detection of combustion events. As future missions extend beyond low-Earth orbit, analysis of returned environmental samples becomes impractical and safety monitoring should be performed in situ. Here, we describe initial designs of a five-channel tunable laser absorption spectrometer to continuously monitor combustion products with the goal of minimal maintenance and calibration over long-duration missions. The instrument incorporates dedicated laser channels to simultaneously target strong mid-infrared absorption lines of CO, HCl, HCN, HF, and CO2. The availability of low-power-consumption semiconductor lasers operating in the 2 to 5 micron wavelength range affords the flexibility to select absorption lines for each gas with maximum interaction strength and minimal interference from other gases, which enables the design of a compact and mechanically robust spectrometer with low-level sensitivity. In this paper, we focus primarily on absorption line selection based on the availability of low-power single-mode semiconductor laser sources designed specifically for the target wavelength range.

Briggs, Ryan M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Penetrator Science Objectives for the Moon and Artemis

Some key decadal-scale mission goals at the Moon have been proposed, these include sample return, the establishment of a lunar geophysical network, and exploring extreme environments, such as the permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles. These environments present accessibility challenges, though contain significant rewards for science return. Small penetrator experiments have great potential for precursor and survey missions for the exploration of these environments, producing early science data and later mission planning. Penetrators have been conceptualized for planetary exploration for several decades but have yet to be operated successfully. Penetrators are designed to be self-contained vehicles with a suite of instruments de-signed to survive and function after achieving certain depth into the regolith using the kinetic energy of impact, or designed to measure mechanical (or compositional) properties as part of a much larger vehicle.

C. J. Ahrens↗
NASA NTRS2012

GeoLab 2011: New Instruments and Operations Tested at Desert RATS

GeoLab is a geological laboratory and testbed designed for supporting geoscience activities during NASA's analog demonstrations. Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center built GeoLab as part of a technology project to aid the development of science operational concepts for future planetary surface missions [1, 2, 3]. It is integrated into NASA's Habitat Demonstration Unit, a first generation exploration habitat test article. As a prototype workstation, GeoLab provides a high fidelity working space for analog mission crewmembers to perform in-situ characterization of geologic samples and communicate their findings with supporting scientists. GeoLab analog operations can provide valuable data for assessing the operational and scientific considerations of surface-based geologic analyses such as preliminary examination of samples collected by astronaut crews [4, 5]. Our analog tests also feed into sample handling and advanced curation operational concepts and procedures that will, ultimately, help ensure that the most critical samples are collected during future exploration on a planetary surface, and aid decisions about sample prioritization, sample handling and return. Data from GeoLab operations also supports science planning during a mission by providing additional detailed geologic information to supporting scientists, helping them make informed decisions about strategies for subsequent sample collection opportunities.

Evans, Cindy A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 2006

Nothing is as gratifying in space exploration as when we are surprised by the unexpected. Much of our work progresses in an orderly way, from concept to plan to creation to finding. But now and then we are caught off-guard by something startlingly new, and it is these moments that make our hearts race and leave us with many of our most compelling memories. And 2006 was an exceptional year for the unforeseen. One of our orbiters shocked many with stark proof that liquid water, the seemingly long-gone force that reshaped so much of the scenery of Mars, still flows there today,at least in occasional bursts. Another spacecraft caught us by surprise with photos of Yellowstone-like geysers on one of Saturn's seemingly nondescript moons, Enceladus. A spaceborne observatory created to plumb the life histories of stars and galaxies showed off a completely unexpected talent when it revealed the day and night faces of a fire and ice planet far beyond our solar system 40 light-years away. A newly launched Earth observer revealed that the clouds that decorate our own planet are not what we thought them to be in many ways. Of course, not all of the high points of the year arrived on our doorstep in such unexpected ways. There was also great drama when missions came off exactly as planned, such as when Stardust's sample return capsule made a flawless landing in the Utah desert, bringing home samples of cometary and interstellar dust. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter slipped into orbit around the red planet exactly as planned. Numerous other missions and technology programs likewise made great achievements during the year. In all, 17 spacecraft and six instruments were stationed across the solar system, studying our own world, other planets, comets and the deeper universe. All of these achievements were enabled by many teams and systems at the Laboratory. The Deep Space Network of communications complexes across three continents supported all of NASA's solar system missions, and several from our international partners, while looking ahead to reinvent itself for the future. Technologists were at work creating innovations both for NASA missions and terrestrial uses. JPL's community of scientific researchers was equally busy coordinating the science activities of our missions and pursuing independent investigations. None of this would be possible without the support of business and administrative teams dedicated to making the Laboratory's institutional environment as world-class as its technical face, or the public engagement specialists who bring the experience of space to the country's diverse publics. All of our missions in one way or another support our nation's Vision for Space Exploration, which envisages a gradually widening robotic and human presence across the solar system in the years ahead.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS↗
NASA NTRS2004

The Genesis Mission Solar Wind Collection: Solar-Wind Statistics over the Period of Collection

The NASA Genesis spacecraft was launched August 8, 2001 on a mission to collect samples of solar wind for 2 years and return them to earth September 8, 2004. Detailed analyses of the solar wind ions implanted into high-purity collection substrates will be carried out using various mass spectrometry techniques. These analyses are expected to determine key isotopic ratios and elemental abundances in the solar wind, and by extension, in the solar photosphere. Further, the photospheric composition is thought to be representative of the solar nebula with a few exceptions, so that the Genesis mission will provide a baseline for the average solar nebula composition with which to compare present-day compositions of planets, meteorites, and asteroids. The collection of solar wind samples is almost complete. Collection began for most substrates in early December, 2001, and is scheduled to be complete on April 2 of this year. It is critical to understand the solar-wind conditions during the collection phase of the mission. For this reason, plasma ion and electron spectrometers are continuously monitoring the solar wind proton density, velocity, temperature, the alpha/proton ratio, and angular distribution of suprathermal electrons. Here we report on the solar-wind conditions as observed by these in-situ instruments during the first half of the collection phase of the mission, from December, 2001 to present.

Barraclough, B. L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Shock metamorphic effects in the Luna 16 soil sample from Mare Fecunditatis.

Diverse lunar soil fragments returned from the Luna 16 mission were examined for evidence in shock metamorphism in order to evaluate the role of meteorite impact in forming the lunar regolith at a new site relatively distant from the Apollo landing sites. It was found that shock metamorphic effects, characteristic of meteorite impact and virtually identical to those observed in Apollo samples, are common in the Luna 16 fragments. Two types of shock effects are present - i.e., a deformation and partial melting features in rock and mineral fragments, and heterogeneous glasses and glassy breccias produced by shock melting. It is concluded that these shock metamorphic effects indicate that regolith formation by meteorite impact has occurred in Mare Fecunditatis and is a general process over the entire moon.

French, B. M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Performance of a recoverable tug for planetary missions including use of perigee propulsion and corrections for nodal regression

Mathematical equations are derived by using the Maximum Principle to obtain the maximum payload capability of a reusable tug for planetary missions. The mathematical formulation includes correction for nodal precession of the space shuttle orbit. The tug performs this nodal correction in returning to this precessed orbit. The sample case analyzed represents an inner planet mission as defined by the declination (fixed) and right ascension of the outgoing asymptote and the mission energy. Payload capability is derived for a typical cryogenic tug and the sample case with and without perigee propulsion. Optimal trajectory profiles and some important orbital elements are also discussed.

Borsody, J.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Performance of a recoverable Tug for planetary missions including use of perigee propulsion and corrections for nodal regression

Mathematical equations are derived by using the Maximum Principle to obtain the maximum payload capability of a reusable Tug for planetary missions. The mathematical formulation includes correction for nodal precession of the Space Shuttle orbit. The Tug performs this nodal correction in returning to this precessed orbit. The sample case analyzed represents an inner planet mission as defined by the declination (fixed) and right ascension of the outgoing asymptote and the mission energy. Payload capability is derived for a typical cryogenic Tug and the sample case with and without perigee propulsion. Optimal trajectory profiles and some important orbital elements are also discussed.

Borsody, J.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Balancing Predictive and Reactive Science Planning for Mars 2020 Perseverance

The design of the science planning process for a space science mission needs to find a balance between operational and resource constraints and scientific decision-making. Science planning has previously been characterized as either predictive or reactive. Predictive science planning is needed when constraints drive science activities to be planned far in advance. For example, a combination of long one-way light time plus high-stakes science decisions drove the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn to have an extremely predictive planning process. On the other extreme, reactive science planning is needed when constraints drive science activities to be planned based on the results of the previous plan. For example, the Mars Exploration Rover mission interacted with the surface of Mars, and so the planning team needed to know the state of the rover at the end of each planning cycle before starting the next cycle. Operational and resource constraints that require management on intermediate timescales has led to the development of a science planning process between these two extremes. For example, the Mars Science Laboratory is a technically complex rover and has a parallel predictive process that allows the operations team to manage engineering constraints several days in advance while maintaining the reactive tactical planning process similar to that of MER. The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is a technically complex rover in the MSL style, but has an added layer of science complexity: it is tasked with collecting a returnable cache of scientifically valuable samples of Mars within prime mission. Thus, the science planning process also needs to accommodate high-stakes longer-term science decisions in the style of Cassini. In order to balance the push-pull of these constraints, we have developed a science campaign-focused operational paradigm for Mars 2020 Perseverance that allows for both predictive planning to accommodate technological complexity and high-stakes science decisions as well as reactive planning to accommodate the realities of interacting with the martian surface. This paradigm influenced the design of operational processes and operational tools.

Spanovich, Nicole↗
NASA NTRS2012

Microbial Monitoring of Pathogens by Comparing Multiple Real-Time PCR Platforms for Potential Space Applications

The International Space Station (ISS) is a closed environment wi~h rotations of crew and equipment each introducing their own microbial flora making it necessary to monitor the air, surfaces, and water for microbial contamination. Current microbial monitoring includes labor and time intensive methods to enumerate total bacterial and fungal cells with limited characterization during in-flight testing. Although this culture-based method has been sufficient for monitoring the ISS, future long duration missions will need to perform more comprehensive characterization in-flight, since sample return and ground characterization may not be available. A workshop was held in 2011 at the Johnson Space Center to discuss alternative methodologies and technologies suitable for microbial monitoring for these longterm exploration missions where molecular-based methodologies, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), were recommended. In response, a multi-center (Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Kennedy Space Center) collaborative research effort was initiated to explore novel commercial-off-the-shelf hardware options for spaceflight environmental monitoring. The goal was to evaluate quantitative/semi-quantitative PCR approaches to space applications for low cost in-flight rapid identification of microorganisms affecting crew safety. The initial phase of this project identified commercially available platforms that could be minimally modified to perform nominally in microgravity followed by proof-of-concept testing on the highest qualifying candidates with a universally available test organism, Salmonella enterica. The platforms evaluated during proof-of-concept testing included the iCubate 2.0(TradeMark) (iCubate, Huntsville, AL), RAZOR EX (BioFire Diagnostics; Salt Lake City, Utah) and SmartCycler(TradeMark) (Cepheid; Sunnyvale, CA). The analysis identified two potential technologies (iCubate 2.0 and RAZOR EX) that were able to perform sample-to-answer testing with cell sample concentrations between SO to 400 cells. In addition, the commercial systems were evaluated for initial flight safety and readiness, sample concentration needs were reviewed, and a competitive procurement of commercially available platforms was initiated.

Birmele, Michele↗