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Electrical Ground Support Equipment for the Sampling Caching System of the Mars 2020 Rover
No abstract provided
Thermal Development of the Mars 2020 Enhanced Engineering Cameras
The engineering cameras (ECAMs) of the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission were re-flown on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission that launched in 2011. The upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission will introduce a new fleet of cameras called the enhanced engineering cameras (EECAMs). These EECAMs will have improved imaging capability, as the technology of the past ECAMs flown on Mars surface missions have become outdated. The EECAMs include six upgraded HazCams, two upgraded NavCams, and a single, newly-conceived CacheCam. The purposes of the HazCams and NavCams remain the same as they were for MER and MSL: to detect hazards to the front and rear of the rover, and to help in navigation across the Martian surface. The CacheCam will be used to take images of samples obtained by the rover’s Sample Caching System. This paper compares the differences in the thermal designs of the ECAMs and EECAMs, their design drivers, and their implications for the mission operations of the Mars 2020 rover.
Architecting the Sampling and Caching System of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover
No abstract provided
Mechanical Abrasion as a Low Cost Technique for Contamination-Free Sample Acquisition from a Category IVA Clean Platform
The proposed Mars Sample Transfer Chain Architecture provides Planetary Protection Officers with clean samples that are required for the eventual release from confinement of the returned Martian samples. At the same time, absolute cleanliness and sterility requirement is not placed of any part of the Lander (including the deep drill), Mars Assent Vehicle (MAV), any part of the Orbiting Sample container (OS), Rover mobility platform, any part of the Minicorer, Robotic arm (including instrument sensors), and most of the caching equipment on the Rover. The removal of the strict requirements in excess of the Category IVa cleanliness (Pathfinder clean) is expected to lead to significant cost savings. The proposed architecture assumes that crosscontamination renders all surfaces in the vicinity of the rover(s) and the lander(s) contaminated. Thus, no accessible surface of Martian rocks and soil is Earth contamination free. As a result of the latter, only subsurface samples (either rock or soil) can be and will be collected for eventual return to Earth. Uncontaminated samples can be collected from a Category IVa clean platform. Both subsurface soil and rock samples can be maintained clean if they are collected by devices that are self-contained and clean and sterile inside only. The top layer of the sample is removed in a manner that does not contaminate the collection tools. Biobarrier (e.g., aluminum foil) covering the moving parts of these devices may be used as the only self removing bio-blanket that is required. The samples never leave the collection tools. The lids are placed on these tools inside the collection device. These single use tools with the lid and the sample inside are brought to Earth in the OS. The lids have to be designed impenetrable to the Earth organisms. The latter is a well established art.
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return Program
NASA's Perseverance mission arrived at Jezero Crater on Mars in February 2021 and began scientific studies and acquisition of Martian samples for return to Earth by future missions, consistent with the recommendations of the U.S. science community in the previous Planetary Science Decadal Survey. NASA and ESA have established a joint Mars Sample Return (MSR) program to safely deliver these samples back to Earth, allowing researchers to use advanced scientific instrumentation that cannot be transported on robotic spacecraft and enable future studies of carefully curated samples using capabilities that have not yet been developed. The MSR architecture consists of two flight elements to follow Perseverance, the NASA-led Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) and the ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter (ERO). The ERO is designed to orbit Mars and provide relay services for the SRL, including its ESA Sample Fetch Rover (SFR) and the NASA Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). The SRL deploys the SFR to retrieve Martian samples cached by the Perseverance rover and then returns the samples to the Orbiting Sample container (OS) on board the MAV using the ESA Sample Transfer Arm (STA). Independently, Perseverance could also deliver samples retained onboard to the OS. The MAV would launch and release the OS into low Mars orbit for rendezvous with the ERO. Upon successful capture of the OS in the ERO’s primary payload, the NASA Capture/Containment Return System (CCRS), the OS would be safely contained and loaded into the Earth Entry System (EES). The ERO will leave Mars orbit and release the EES on Earth approach on a ballistic reentry trajectory through the Earth's atmosphere for landing in the United States. Following return of the samples to Earth, the samples would be protected, preserved, assessed, curated, and made available to the international science community for scientific research and analysis. The NASA SRL and ESA ERO missions are expected to launch as early as 2026, with the return of Martian samples to Earth as early as 2031. MSR’s primary objective is the return of scientifically selected Mars samples for detailed investigation in terrestrial laboratories. The mission would also further inform the design of future human missions. The Mars Sample Return campaign is underway with the successful collection of several scientifically selected samples in Jezero Crater. The MSR Program is working towards a confirmation review in 2023 for the remaining flight elements.
Planning Considerations Related to Collecting and Analyzing Samples of the Martian Soils
The Mars Sample Return (MSR) End-to-End International Science Analysis Group (E2E-iSAG [1]) established scientific objectives associ-ated with Mars returned-sample science that require the return and investigation of one or more soil samples. Soil is defined here as loose, unconsolidated materials with no implication for the presence or absence of or-ganic components. The proposed Mars 2020 (M-2020) rover is likely to collect and cache soil in addition to rock samples [2], which could be followed by future sample retrieval and return missions. Here we discuss key scientific consid-erations for sampling and caching soil samples on the proposed M-2020 rover, as well as the state in which samples would need to be preserved when received by analysts on Earth. We are seeking feedback on these draft plans as input to mission requirement formulation. A related planning exercise on rocks is reported in an accompanying abstract [3].
An Efficient Approach for Mars Sample Return Using Emerging Commercial Capabilities
Mars Sample Return is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the 2011 Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. This article presents the results of a feasibility study for a Mars Sample Return mission that efficiently uses emerging commercial capabilities expected to be available in the near future. The motivation of our study was the recognition that emerging commercial capabilities might be used to perform Mars Sample Return with an Earth-direct architecture, and that this may offer a desirable simpler and lower cost approach. The objective of the study was to determine whether these capabilities can be used to optimize the number of mission systems and launches required to return the samples, with the goal of achieving the desired simplicity. All of the major element required for the Mars Sample Return mission are described. Mission system elements were analyzed with either direct techniques or by using parametric mass estimating relationships. The analysis shows the feasibility of a complete and closed Mars Sample Return mission design based on the following scenario: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle places a modified version of a SpaceX Dragon capsule, referred to as "Red Dragon", onto a Trans Mars Injection trajectory. The capsule carries all the hardware needed to return to Earth Orbit samples collected by a prior mission, such as the planned NASA Mars 2020 sample collection rover. The payload includes a fully fueled Mars Ascent Vehicle; a fueled Earth Return Vehicle, support equipment, and a mechanism to transfer samples from the sample cache system onboard the rover to the Earth Return Vehicle. The Red Dragon descends to land on the surface of Mars using Supersonic Retropropulsion. After collected samples are transferred to the Earth Return Vehicle, the single-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle launches the Earth Return Vehicle from the surface of Mars to a Mars phasing orbit. After a brief phasing period, the Earth Return Vehicle performs a Trans Earth Injection burn. Once near Earth, the Earth Return Vehicle performs Earth and lunar swing-bys and is placed into a Lunar Trailing Orbit - an Earth orbit, at lunar distance. A retrieval mission then performs a rendezvous with the Earth Return Vehicle, retrieves the sample container, and breaks the chain of contact with Mars by transferring the sample into a sterile and secure container. With the sample contained, the retrieving spacecraft makes a controlled Earth re-entry preventing any unintended release of Martian materials into the Earth's biosphere. The mission can start in any one of three Earth to Mars launch opportunities, beginning in 2022.
Development of the Sample Fetch Rover Locomotion Subsystem
A novel system for planetary surface mobility is being designed in response to the challenging requirements of the Sample Fetch Rover (SFR) mission, part of the NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return campaign (MSR). The rover will retrieve tubes with rock and soil samples, previously acquired and cached by NASA’s Perseverance rover in depots on the Martian surface. SFR will have to acquire, transport and deliver the tubes to a lander in a tight time window. This will require significant mobility capabilities, unprecedented for Mars rovers. The highly time-constrained traverse needs, together with the strictly limited mass and volume imposed by the accommodation on the lander, have pushed the design of the SFR locomotion to seek innovative solutions. In response to that, a four-wheel drive system is being developed, integrated with a deployable pitch-averaging suspension. This will be the first time that four-wheel locomotion is used on Mars and on robotic planetary rovers in general. The system, relying on high-efficiency drive actuators designed to operate in Mars environment, shows potential for terrain and obstacle negotiation performance comparable with that of larger vehicles. The implementation also takes advantage of the superelastic Spring-Tyre technology currently being developed by NASA Glenn Research Center, which, thanks to its traction and obstacle compliance properties, will allow SFR to navigate difficult ground and achieve its mission objectives.
Thermal testing of a Mars 2020 enhanced engineering camera
The upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission is introducing a new generation of engineering cameras (ECAMs) called the enhanced engineering cameras (EECAMs), which have advanced imaging capability over the previous ECAMs used on the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers. The Mars 2020 rover will have nine EECAMs – six upgraded HazCams used for hazard avoidance, two upgraded NavCams used for navigation, and a single CacheCam used to take images of samples obtained by the rover’s Sampling and Caching Subsystem (SCS). The detailed EECAM design was completed in April 2017, and since then the EECAM Subsystem has been in the process of fabrication, integration, and testing. This paper describes two thermal tests that were done for thermal model correlation and validation of the EECAM thermal design during Mars surface operations.
Percussion Mechanism for the Mars2020 Coring Drill
The Mars2020 rover includes a Sampling & Caching Subsystem (SCS) that is required to acquire core samples of hard rocks and to abrade rocky surfaces flat and smooth in order to facilitate surface science. Hard, high strength rocks exhibit brittle failure modes, and can be drilled and chiseled efficiently using percussive impacts. The coring drill percussion mechanism was designed to provide those impacts with variable output force and to be used with various drill bits. A unique hammering mechanism, using a base-driven hammer, powered by a conventional rotary actuator driving a Scotch yoke, was designed to robustly provide the required function in a Martian environment for a life exceeding 2 million impacts.
Sample Materials Considerations for Curating and Processing Pristine MSR Samples
The perseverance rover is collecting and caching samples of Mars as part of the Mars 2020 mission, which represents the first leg of a multi-mission Mars Sample Return Campaign. The MSR Campaign is an international partnership that will result in delivery of the first martian samples to Earth that were not delivered through meteoritic infall. All meteorites, regardless of how they were handled from recovery to curation, have experienced uncontrolled entry and exposure to the terrestrial environment. Whilst meteorite deliveries are serendipitous, they are also unplanned events that require reactionary responses for recovery and curation. However, with the direct return of pristine astromaterials from another body, we are afforded the ability to design a facility in advance of sample delivery to keep those samples in a pristine (i.e., as returned) state for an indefinite period of time. Given that the curation and processing infrastructure needs to be made out of something, it is important to choose materials for the pristine curation environment that will optimize between the need to effectively process samples and the need to minimize contamination of the samples. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) has an optimized list of materials that have been used in previous sample return missions that includes 304/316 Stainless Steel, Teflon, and T6061 Aluminum (1). This set of materials are compatible with inorganic, organic, and biological cleanliness requirements and protocols. Furthermore, only these materials are permitted to come in contact with pristine samples. We note that JSC uses Neoprene and Hypalon for the gloves on their gloveboxes, but the glove material never comes in direct contact with the samples, only the approved materials. The MSR sample tubes will be made of Ti, so Ti may be an acceptable material for making tools, but the minor and trace element abundances of 304 and 316 stainless steel are well known and do not inhibit scientific investigations of metals, including HSE (2). More work is needed to determine whether the same is true for Ti alloys. In addition to defining the materials in the pristine environment, one must also choose whether the pristine environment will be under vacuum or under a specific atmospheric composition and pressure. Although JAXA has successfully implemented pristine curation vacuum chambers for their Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 samples (3), a vacuum environment is not appropriate for martian samples because it may drive deliquescence of mineral phases in the samples that are sensitive to pressure and relative humidity (4). Consequently, the pristine environment for the martian samples should be under an inert gas. It will be crucial to minimize the number of gases that come into direct contact with samples and these gases will need to be high purity and consistent throughout the pristine isolators. Samples at JSC are stored under high purity gaseous nitrogen (1). Dry N2 gas has not been a problem for N isotope studies for high-T release phases, but an additional inert atmosphere like Ar may be needed for samples where there is a particular concern about low-T release of N from bulk sample analysis. References: (1) McCubbin FM, et al. (2019) Space Science Reviews, 215, 1-81. (2) Day JMD, et al. (2018) Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 53:1283-1291. (3) Yada, T., et al., (2014). Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 49, 135-153. (4) Tosca NJ, et al. (2021). Astrobiology, in press, doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0115.
Will MSR Samples Cached on the Martian Surface Experience Significantly Greater Thermal Degradation than Samples Retained in the Rover?
Since the first Mars Sample Return (MSR)-related report published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1974, a series of panels, reports, and white papers have recognized the importance of sample temperature in meeting mission goals and defined a sample maximum temperature (henceforth SMT) limit. The Mars Sample Handling and Requirements Panel (MSHARP, 1999) flatly stated that “[t]he main issue in sample preservation is temperature”. The Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG)’s “Science Priorities for Mars Sample Return” report (2008), declared that “[s]ignificant loss, particularly to biological studies, occurs if samples reach +50°C for three hours ” whereby “scientific objectives related to life goals could be seriously compromised”. Overall, a total of seven panels, white papers, and conference reports adopted a SMT of -40±17°C to preserve samples sufficiently to confidently achieve success in studies of past or present Martian life (see more detail in [5]). In contrast, the Mars 2020 rover (M2020) mission adopted a SMT of +60°C for samples stored on the Martian surface and +50°C for samples retained inside the rover, as stated in a conference poster presented by Beaty et al., 2016. M2020 is currently collecting samples for MSR in tubes. Half of those tubes will be retained within the M2020 rover body (hereafter rover samples, or RS) and half will be deposited on the Martian surface (cached samples or CS), with a currently undetermined number of each collected up to ten years later for return to Earth. CS samples can be expected to experience significantly higher temperatures than RS samples based on their exposed location in sunlight. This work will explore differences in deleterious chemical reaction rates due to thermal environment of both tube types. The findings here should be debated openly and considered when deciding which samples to return to Earth.
Mars Technology Rover with Arm-Mounted Percussive Coring Tool, Microimager, and Sample-Handling Encapsulation Containerization Subsystem
A report describes the PLuto (programmable logic) Mars Technology Rover, a mid-sized FIDO (field integrated design and operations) class rover with six fully drivable and steerable cleated wheels, a rocker-bogey suspension, a pan-tilt mast with panorama and navigation stereo camera pairs, forward and rear stereo hazcam pairs, internal avionics with motor drivers and CPU, and a 5-degrees-of-freedom robotic arm. The technology rover was integrated with an arm-mounted percussive coring tool, microimager, and sample handling encapsulation containerization subsystem (SHEC). The turret of the arm contains a percussive coring drill and microimager. The SHEC sample caching system mounted to the rover body contains coring bits, sample tubes, and sample plugs. The coring activities performed in the field provide valuable data on drilling conditions for NASA tasks developing and studying coring technology. Caching of samples using the SHEC system provide insight to NASA tasks investigating techniques to store core samples in the future.
Mars 2020 sample caching system contamination: how to clean hardware and keep it clean
The Mars 2020 Rover will have the capability to collect and cache samples for potential Mars sample return. Specifically, the sample caching system (SCS) is designed for coring Mars samples and acquiring regolith samples as well as handling, sealing and caching on Mars. As the potential first Martian samples that could be returned to Earth, assuring low levels of terrestrial contamination is of the utmost concern. In developing the SCS, the project prioritizes limiting sample contamination in organic, inorganic and biological areas. The focus of this paper is on the strategies being implemented to clean the assemble the sampling hardware to meet and maintain stringent contamination requirements.
Preliminary Surface Thermal Design of the Mars 2020 Rover
The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled for launch in July 2020, is currently being designed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars 2020 rover design is derived from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which has been exploring the surface of Mars in Gale Crater for over 2.5 years. The Mars 2020 rover will carry a new science payload made up of 7 instruments. In addition, the Mars 2020 rover is responsible for collecting a sample cache of Mars regolith and rock core samples that could be returned to Earth in a future mission. Accommodation of the new payload and the Sampling Caching System (SCS) has driven significant thermal design changes from the original MSL rover design. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the heritage MSL rover thermal design and the new Mars 2020 thermal design. Modifications to the MSL rover thermal design that were made to accommodate the new payload and SCS are discussed. Conclusions about thermal design flexibility are derived from the Mars 2020 preliminary thermal design experience.
Planetary Sample Caching System Design Options
Potential Mars Sample Return missions would aspire to collect small core and regolith samples using a rover with a sample acquisition tool and sample caching system. Samples would need to be stored in individual sealed tubes in a canister that could be transfered to a Mars ascent vehicle and returned to Earth. A sample handling, encapsulation and containerization system (SHEC) has been developed as part of an integrated system for acquiring and storing core samples for application to future potential MSR and other potential sample return missions. Requirements and design options for the SHEC system were studied and a recommended design concept developed. Two families of solutions were explored: 1)transfer of a raw sample from the tool to the SHEC subsystem and 2)transfer of a tube containing the sample to the SHEC subsystem. The recommended design utilizes sample tool bit change out as the mechanism for transferring tubes to and samples in tubes from the tool. The SHEC subsystem design, called the Bit Changeout Caching(BiCC) design, is intended for operations on a MER class rover.
Docking the Mars 2020 Perseverance Robotic Arm
The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover includes an innovative Sample Caching Subsystem (SCS). Two key features of SCS are the ability to collect and process rock and regolith samples for possible future return to Earth and the ability to switch between different types of drill bits for coring rocks, abrading rocks, and collecting regolith. These capabilities are enabled by a Corer mounted on the end of a Robotic Arm and a Bit Carousel mounted on the front of the rover body. Beneath the Bit Carousel, a smaller Sample Handling Arm can insert and remove sample tubes from sampling bits in the carousel. For the Corer to interface with the Bit Carousel so that it can exchange drill bits and hand off rock samples, the Robotic Arm must maneuver the Corer to dock with the Bit Carousel. Docking serves two primary purposes: it precisely aligns the Corer with the hardware inside the Bit Carousel, and it applies enough preload between the Corer and the Bit Carousel to make them stay aligned through the process of bit exchange.The docking assembly consists of four concave alignment cones mounted on a large rotating ring, through the center of which the drill can exchange bits and samples with the Bit Carousel. The coring drill includes four alignment posts which mate with the four cones on the dock. Docking uses an algorithm we call “Force-Corrected Docking”, which means it iteratively reads the force/moments reported by the FTS, performs a small motion to reduce sideload and moments while increasing preload, and repeats until reaching a deadband around the target preload. Because docking is a critical function for SCS, the dock hardware and algorithm have been tested thousands of times over 7 years in various stages of development. The culmination of this work is a reliable docking system which has been demonstrated and used in flight.