NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) is soliciting information
for a potential site location (real estate) in the United States for the
construction of a Mars Sample Receiving Facility (SRF). The facility would manage
handling samples returned from future Mars missions. A "Request For Information" document released Thursday details how the Mars samples will be handled.
Mars Sample Return Campaign Background
The planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign will collect and retrieve samples from the Red Planet and transport them back to Earth for detailed investigation. NASA and
the European Space Agency (ESA) have created an international partnership for
MSR.
While the extent and scope of this partnership continue to
be defined under a formal Memorandum of Understanding, substantial planning
work has been initiated. The current baseline campaign includes three flight missions
and one ground mission component.
Perseverance rover
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on the planet in early 2021 and is currently collecting samples of Mars for potential future return to Earth. The samples
that have been and will be acquired by the Perseverance rover vary in type and
character and may include regolith/dust and breccias, sediments, carbonates and
hydrated minerals, crater floor material, igneous rocks, and the Martian atmosphere.
Although more will be collected, the baseline sample return
recovery and flight systems are capable of transporting about 30 Martian sample
tubes back to Earth, containing a total of 500 grams of Martian material.
After launching into Martian orbit via a lander that collects
and packages the sample tubes on a Mars ascent vehicle, and a series of sterilization
and isolation steps to meet planetary protection requirements for Earth Return
missions, the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) would then return to the vicinity of
Earth.
It is anticipated that the ERO would approach Earth no earlier
than 2033 and release the Earth Entry System (EES) for ballistic reentry
through Earth’s atmosphere and landing, tentatively at the Utah Test and
Training Range. Upon recovery, the EES would be placed in biosafety containment
and transferred to the SRF.
SRF Goals and Requirements
As part of the initial investigation, a sample safety
assessment will be performed to determine whether the samples are free of
potential biological hazards, prior to the release of samples to analytical and
curation facilities outside of containment.
The SRF must offer both cleanroom and high-containment
capabilities. Activities in the SRF would include receiving the EES, accessing
the samples, conducting a sample safety assessment, and performing initial
characterization and cataloging. Potential further activities would also
include executing select scientific analyses and providing for a transition to
long-term curation and storage.
Traditional curation of extraterrestrial samples has
previously been completed using cleanroom conditions; the MSR curation would
additionally require biosafety containment at a high level of confidence.
Due to planetary protection requirements and the possibility
that these samples could contain an unknown biohazard that poses a potential
public health or environmental concern, the facility in which these samples are
initially examined is provisionally thought to be Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) or
BSL-4 equivalent.
If these samples are deemed abiotic (i.e., absent of life)
and safe for release, a more traditional clean (uncontained) curation facility
could be used for long-term handling and storage. If the samples are not deemed
safe for release after the initial sample safety assessment (or the test
results are not definitive), then a subset of the samples could be sterilized
(and transferred to a traditional clean uncontained curation facility) and/or a
subset could remain in biosafety containment until determined safe for release
or conserved for future study.
In addition to providing high containment, the SRF would
need to provide protection from contamination by terrestrial materials.
Contamination control requirements for both organic and inorganic materials have
not yet been finalized.
If samples are deemed safe for release, or rendered
sterilized by an approved technique, the SRF would also be utilized to prepare
samples for allocation to outside investigators as well as sample storage
(until a long-term curation facility is constructed).
“This facility is intended to support the work of
international collaborators and as such would require access capabilities to
accommodate this personnel,” NASA said in the document.
NASA would like to have the SRF ready by 2031 to support two
years of preparation for a 2033 return of samples.
The SRF requires both high containment and
cleanliness/contamination control capabilities for all Martian material. This
is to ensure that the materials are not released until demonstrated to be safe,
and the samples kept pristine, free of terrestrial contamination, to allow for
accurate scientific analysis.
NASA Invites Responses
NASA/JSC is seeking information and responses to questions
from all interested parties with existing or planned high-containment
facilities within the U.S., the agency said. “Interested parties having the
required real estate necessary to execute the requirements described/attached
herein are encouraged to provide responses.” All responses must be submitted no
later than April 7.
“This request for information will be used solely for
information planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation,” NASA said.
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