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NASA NTRS2023

The Planetary Protection Strategy of Mars Sample Return’s Earth Return Orbiter Mission

The Mars Sample Return campaign aims to use three flight missions and one ground element to safely bring rock cores, regolith and atmospheric samples from the surface of Mars to Earth to answer key questions about the geologic and climate history of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. Since its landing in Jezero Crater in 2021, the first mission, NASA’s Mars 2020, has collected a number of samples on the crater floor and on the delta using the Perseverance rover. Subsequent missions would recover the sealed sample tubes, launch them into Mars orbit, and transport them back to Earth. The ground element would be a high-containment facility that would isolate and protect the samples during initial sample characterization, which would include sample safety assessments and time-sensitive scientific investigations. These elements are currently in the planning and design stages of development, and represent an international effort of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and many industry partners. The work presented here provides an overview of the planetary protection strategy of the third flight mission, the ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), which hosts the NASA-provided Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS). ERO-CCRS would capture the container with up to 30 sealed tubes previously put in Martian orbit, contain them in redundant containers to ensure that no potentially hazardous Mars particles are released, and return them to Earth through an entry vehicle. Both NASA and ESA policies comply with the United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty by planning to protect Earth’s biosphere from any potential adverse effects from material returned from solar system bodies beyond the Earth-Moon system. In the conduct of Mars Sample Return, the two agencies have agreed to apply approaches consistent with their own planetary protection standards to the campaign elements each provides.

Mars Sample Return↗
NASA NTRS2024

The Planetary Protection Strategy of Mars Sample Return’s Earth Return Orbiter Mission

The Mars Sample Return campaign aims to use three flight missions and one ground element to safely bring rock cores, regolith and atmospheric samples from the surface of Mars to Earth to answer key questions about the geologic and climate history of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. Since its landing in Jezero Crater in 2021, the first mission, NASA’s Mars 2020, has collected a number of samples on the crater floor and on the delta using the Perseverance rover. Subsequent missions would recover the sealed sample tubes, launch them into Mars orbit, and transport them back to Earth. The ground element would be a high-containment facility that would isolate and protect the samples during initial sample characterization, which would include sample safety assessments and time-sensitive scientific investigations. These elements are currently in the planning and design stages of development, and represent an international effort of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and many industry partners. The work presented here provides an overview of the planetary protection strategy of the third flight mission, the ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter, which hosts the NASA-provided Capture, Containment, and Return System. The orbiter would detect and capture the container with up to 30 sealed tubes previously put in Martian orbit, contain them in redundant containers to ensure that no potentially hazardous Mars particles are released, and return them to Earth through an entry vehicle. Both NASA and ESA policies comply with the United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty by planning to protect Earth’s biosphere from any potential adverse effects from material returned from solar system bodies beyond the Earth-Moon system. In the conduct of Mars Sample Return, the two agencies have mutually agreed to apply approaches consistent with their own planetary protection standards to the campaign elements they each provide.

Mars Sample Return↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Enabling the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Mission

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and the European Space Agency are pursing a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission to collect and return samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere from the surface of Mars to Earth. The goals of this campaign are deepen understanding of whether life ever existed on Mars and, in turn, better understand the origins of life on Earth. The heatshield for the EEV will use a 3D Mid-density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP) system that is derived from the Insulating Layer of Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environments Technology (HEEET) family of TPS materials.

HEEET↗
NASA NTRS2013

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASA's science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of new commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of a SpaceX Dragon capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

Bowles, Jeffrey V.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: ERV Trajectory and Capture Requirements

Mars Sample Return was presented as the highest priority planetary science mission of the next decade [1]. Lemke et al. [2] present a Mars Sample Return mission concept in which the sample is returned directly from the surface of Mars to an Earth orbit. The sample is recovered in Earth Orbit instead of being transferred between spacecraft in Mars Orbit. This paper provides the details of this sample recovery in Earth orbit and presents as such a sub-element of the overall Mars sample return concept given in [2]. We start from the assumption that a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), initially landed on Mars using a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, has successfully delivered the sample, already contained within an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), to a parking orbit around Mars. From the parking orbit, the ERV imparts sufficient Delta-V to inject itself into an earthbound trajectory and to be captured into an Earth orbit eventually. We take into account launch window and Delta-V considerations as well as the additional constraint of increased safety margins imposed by planetary protection regulations. We focus on how to overcome two distinct challenges of the sample return that are driven by the issues of planetary protection: (1) the design of an ERV trajectory meeting all the requirements including the need to avoid contamination of Earth's atmosphere; (2) the concept of operations for retrieving the Martian samples in Earth orbit in a safe way. We present an approach to retrieve the samples through a rendezvous between the ERV and a second SpaceX Dragon capsule. The ERV executes a trajectory that brings it from low Mars orbit (LMO) to a Moon-trailing Earth orbit at high inclination with respect to the Earth-Moon plane. After a first burn at Trans-Earth Injection (TEI), the trajectory uses a second burn at perigee during an Earth flyby maneuver to capture the ERV in Earth orbit. The ERV then uses a non-propulsive Moon flyby to come to a near-circular Moon-trailing orbit. To perform the Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR), a second Dragon capsule is then launched from Earth and a similar lunar flyby is performed to rendezvous with the ERV. The requirements for rendezvous, close proximity operations and capture of the sample canister are described. A concept of operations for sample retrieval is presented along with design specifications of the ERV, the required modifications to the Dragon capsule, as well as the hardware, software, sensors, actuators, and capture mechanisms used. In our concept, a container is mounted to the front hatch of Dragon, capable of accommodating the sample canister and sealing it from the rest of the capsule. The sample canister is captured using a robotic arm with a magnetic grappling mechanism. Dragon then performs a propulsive maneuver to return to Earth for a controlled re-entry while the ERV (sans sample container) is left in the Moon trailing orbit. Contingency cases and related mitigation strategies are also discussed, including the advantages and disadvantages of performing the ERV rendezvous with a crew.

Faber, Nicolas F.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Stardust Sample Return Mission

The NASA Discovery-class Stardust comet sample return mission collected samples from the coma of Comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for study in 2006. The samples were collected at hypervelocities using low-density aerogel as the spacecraft did a flyby of the comet’s nucleus. In this talk, I will begin by giving an overview of the mission that covers (i) the mission design, (ii) the spacecraft, and (iii) the spacecraft’s encounter with Comet/81P Wild 2 and its subsequent return to Earth. This will be followed by a discussion of many of the principal scientific discoveries that resulted from both the comet flyby and the study of the returned samples in terrestrial laboratories (discoveries that will continue to grow as the returned samples continue to be studied in the future).

Comets↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return: Considerations for the Curation of Astromaterials from a Restricted Planet

The joint NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign is underway. The Perseverance Rover has already collected a returnable sample suite currently cached at Three Forks and the pairs to these samples are stored on the Rover with more compelling samples planned to be collected. The MSR collection would represent the most geologically diverse astromaterial collection ever returned and should provide information on topics ranging from Martian geological and biological history to Martian environmental hazards and in situ resource utilization to support potential human exploration. Although Jezero Crater and the surrounding area are not Mars special regions, the scientific opinion is that Mars as a whole is of significant interest to the process of chemical evolution and/or the origin of life. Therefore, due to possibility, however remote, that the samples could contain extraterrestrial life, MSR is classified as a Category V: Restricted Earth Return mission by the NASA Planetary Protection Office. As a result of this classification, a MSR Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) must not only provide a pristine environment to ensure samples are protected from terrestrial contamination for scientific investigations, but it must also provide high-containment to isolate the samples from Earth’s biosphere until the samples are deemed safe for release and/or sterilized.

Mars Sample Return↗
NASA NTRS2018

The CAESAR New Frontiers Comet Sample Return Mission

The Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission is one of two finalists selected by NASA for Phase A study in the New Frontiers program. CAESAR will acquire a minimum of 80 grams of material from the surface of comet 67P/Churuyumov-Gerasimenko and return it to Earth for laboratory analysis. CAESAR preserves much of the science of a cryogenic sample return by retaining volatiles in a dedicated reservoir securely separated from the solid sample. Comet 67P was selected based on its favorable orbital geometry and the risk reduction and scientific context provided by the ESA (European Space Agency)'s Rosetta mission. CAESAR's objectives are to understand the origins of the Solar System starting materials and how these components came together to form planets and give rise to life. We also seek to resolve the conflicting views of comet origins arising from the Stardust and Rosetta missions. While the greater than 1 micron solids returned by Stardust originated in the hot, inner solar nebula, measurements by Rosetta suggest 67P volatiles formed at cryogenic temperatures and remained unchanged for billions of years. This dichotomy provides the rationale for returning both solid and gaseous samples.

CAESAR New Frontiers↗
NASA NTRS1989

Mars Rover Sample Return mission

To gain a detailed understanding of the character of the planet Mars, it is necessary to send vehicle to the surface and return selected samples for intensive study in earth laboratories. Toward that end, studies have been underway for several years to determine the technically feasible means for exploring the surface and returning selected samples. This paper describes several MRSR mission concepts that have emerged from the most recent studies.

Bourke, Roger D.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Concept for an On-orbit Capture and Orientation Module for Potential Mars Sample Return

An orbiting sample Capture and Orient Module (COM) architecture for a Capture, Contain, and Return System (CCRS) payload concept for an Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) was developed to enable on-orbit capture, orientation, and transfer of a Mars sample container into a containment vessel for potential Mars Sample Return (MSR). The module is composed of a capture mechanism for containing the Orbiting Sample (OS), a capture cone to capture and contain the OS, an orientation mechanism to orient the OS, an External Transfer Mechanism (ETM) to cage the OS during capture and assemble it into the containment vessel, a capture trigger to trigger capture mechanism and ETM closure during OS capture, and a sensing system to inspect the OS and confirm capture and orientation. Statistical modeling and simulations of the OS during capture were performed to analyze the time to contact and perturbations to the spacecraft at first contact. A half-scale functional prototype of the module was developed to demonstrate end-to-end operation.

Younse, Paulo↗
NASA NTRS1984

Comet nucleus sample return

A comet nucleus sample return mission has been proposed for implementation near the end of this century. The objective of the mission is to collect a sample of undisturbed material from beneath the surface of an active comet and return it to earth in a minimally altered state. Potential targets include the short-period comets Encke, Tempel 2 and Wild 2. This article defines such a mission and describes its requirements with regard to science, sampling, thermal protection and performance. It has been determined that, with present launch capabilities, Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) is an enabling technology for this mission.

Feingold, H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Venus Sample Return Using In-situ Propellant

This project will pioneer a new approach to return a sample from the surface of Venus. At 450°C and 92 bar pressure, the Venus surface is the most hostile environment in the solar system. This project merges an innovative carbon monoxide rocket concept using propellant made from the Venus atmosphere with innovations in high-temperature technology and solar aircraft. We turn an ambitious mission into a reality. The mission will return a sample from the scorching surface of Venus, using a novel multi-step approach incorporating new technology. The high-temperature solar aircraft collects the sample from the surface and carries it above the main cloud deck to a balloon platform with a launch vehicle & propellant manufacturing plant. The carbon monoxide/oxygen monopropellant is manufactured from the Venus atmosphere.

Venus↗
NASA NTRS1975

Mars surface sample return tradeoff studies

Results of tradeoff studies concerning the Mars Surface Sample Return (MSSR) mission are presented. Factors considered include: Mars mission opportunities in the 1980-1990 time frame; design features of the hardware systems used to return the sample; minimization of probability of back contamination; direct entry of the returning sample capsule at earth vs. orbital capture of the capsule for recovery by the shuttle; and possibility of increasing the landed weight at Mars to support MSSR mission modes involving heavier systems.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Mars Orbiter Sample Return Power Design

The NASA/JPL 2003/2005 Mars Sample Return (MSR) Missions will each have a sample return canister that will be filled with samples cored from the surface of MARS. These spherical canisters will be 14.8 cm in diameter and must be powered only by solar cells on the surface and must communicate using RF transmission with the recovery vehicle that will be coming in 2006 or 2009 to retrieve the canister. This paper considers the aspect and conclusion that went into the design of the power system that achieves the maximum power with the minimum risk. The power output for the spherical orbiting canister was modeled and plotted in various views of the orbit by the SOAP program developed by JPL. The requirements and geometry for a solar array on a sphere are unique and place special constraints on the design. These requirements include 1) accommodating a lid for sample loading into the canister, surface area was restricted from use on the Northern pole of the spherical canister. 2) minimal cell surface coverage (maximum cell efficiency), less than 40%, for recovery vehicle to locate the canister by optical techniques. 3) a RF transmission during 50% of MARS orbit time on any spin axis, which requires optimum circuit placement of the solar cell onto the spherical canister. The best configuration would have been a 4.5 volt round cell, but in the real world we compromised with six triangular silicon cells connected in series to form a hexagon. These hexagon circuits would be mounted onto a flat facet cut into the spherical canister. The surface flats are required in order to maximize power, the surface of the cells connected in series must be at the same angle relative to the sun. The flat facets intersect each other to allow twelve circuits evenly spaced just North and twelve circuits South of the equator of the spherical canister. Connecting these circuits in parallel allows sufficient power to operate the transmitter at minimum solar exposure, Northern pole of the canister facing the sun. Additional power, as much as 20%, is also generated by the circuits facing MARS due to albedo of MARS.

Mardesich, N.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sample Curation in Support of the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission launched to asteroid Bennu Sept. 8, 2016. The spacecraft will arrive at Bennu in late 2019, orbit and map the asteroid, and perform a touch and go (TAG) sampling maneuver in July 2020. After sample is stowed and confirmed the spacecraft will return to Earth, and the sample return capsule (SRC) will land in Utah in September 2023. Samples will be recovered from Utah [2] and then transported and stored in a new sample cleanroom at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston [3]. The materials curated for the mission are described here. a) Materials Archive and Witness Plate Collection: The SRC and TAGSAM were built between March 2014 and Summer of 2015, and instruments (OTES,OVIRS, OLA, OCAMS, REXIS) were integrated from Summer 2015 until May 2016. A total of 395 items were received for the materials archive at NASA-JSC, with archiving finishing ~30 days after launch (with the final archived items being related to launch operations)[4]. The materials fall into several general categories including metals (stainless steel, aluminum, titanium alloys, brass and BeCu alloy), epoxies, paints, polymers, lubricants, non-volatile-residue samples (NVR), sapphire, and various miscellaneous materials. All through the ATLO process (from March 2015 until late August 2016) contamination knowledge witness plates (Si wafer and Al foil) were deployed in the various cleanrooms in Denver and KSC to provide an additional record of particle counts and volatiles that is archived for current and future scientific studies. These plates were deployed in roughly monthly increments with each unit containing 4 Si wafers and 4 Al foils. We archived 128 individual witness plates (64 Si wafers and 64 Al foils); one of each witness plate (Si and Al) was analyzed immediately by the science team after archiving, while the remaining 3 of each are archived indefinitely. Information about each material archived is stored in an extensive database at NASA-JSC, and key summary information for each will be presented in an online catalog. b) Bulk Asteroid sample: The Touch and Go Sampling Mechanism (TAGSAM) head will contain up to 1.5 kg of asteroid material. Upon return to Earth, the TAGSAM head with the sample canister will be subjected to a nitrogen purge and then opened in a nitrogen cabinet in Houston. Once the TAGSAM head is removed from the canister, it will be dis-assembled slowly and carefully under nitrogen until the sample can be removed for processing in a dedicated nitrogen glovebox. Bennu surface samples are expected to be sub-cm sized, based on thermal infrared and radar polarization ratio measurements [1]. The upper limit on material collected by the TAGSAM head is ~2 cm. Therefore, we will be prepared to handle, subdivide, and characterize materials of a wide grain size (from ~10 m to 2 cm), and for both organic (UV fluorescence) and inorganic (SEM, FTIR, optical) properties. Representative portions of the bulk sample will be prepared for JAXA (0.5 %; see also [5]) and Canadian Space Agency (4%), with the remaining divided between the science team (<25%) and archived for future studies (NASA) (>75%). c) Contact Pad samples: The base of the TAGSAM head contains 24 contact pads that are designed to trap the upper surface layer of material and thus offer an opportunity to study asteroid samples that have resided at the very top surface of the regolith. Asteroid material is trapped on the pads in spring steel Velcro hooks, and material will have to be removed from these pads by curation specialists in the lab. d) Hardware: Some canister and SRC hardware items will contain information that will be important to understanding the collected samples, including the canister gas filter, temperature strips, flight witness plates, and the TAGSAM and canister parts that might have adhering dust grains. Some challenges remaining for both bulk sample and contact pad samples include: i) working with intermediate size range (200 to 500 micron) samples - a size range NASA has not previously worked in such detail; ii) techniques for removal of contact pad material from the spring steel hooks, iii) static electrical effects of dust sized particles during sample handling and curation is likely to be significant, and iv) the TAGSAM head and associated canister hardware will undoubtedly be coated with fine adhering dust grains from Bennu. In the case of collection of a large bulk sample mass, the adhering dust grains may be of lower priority. If a small sample mass is returned, the adhering dust may attain a higher priority, so recovery of adhering dust grains is an additional challenge to consider. In the year leading up to sample return we plan a variety of sample handling rehearsals that will enables the curation team to be prepared for many new aspects posed by this sample suite.

Righter, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2014

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: Mission Architecture Overview

Mars Sample Return (MSR) is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. This presentation provides an overview of a feasibility study for a MSR mission in which emerging commercial capabilities are used alongside other sources of mission elements. Goal is to reduce the number of mission systems and launches required to return the samples, with the goal of reducing mission cost.. Major elements required for the MSR mission are described. We report the feasibility of a complete and closed MSR mission design

Red Dragon↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aeroheating Testing of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System with Surface Roughness

The Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System is a mission concept which would be the first NASA entry vehicle to utilize a woven thermal protection system as well as a 52.5 degree sphere-cone forebody geometry. Due to its novel design, historic experimental data sets were insufficient to validate the models used to characterize the expected aerothermal environment. A wind tunnel test campaign was funded by the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System project in the NASA Langley 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel in order to obtain validation data. The December 2023 test entry of this campaign sought to obtain thermographic data to capture the impact of supersonic flow near woven surface roughness elements on convective heating augmentation, which was the largest remaining uncertainty in aerothermal design of the Earth Entry System. Data obtained were in family with prior results obtained on identical woven patterns without supersonic flow present at roughness elements, and it was found that this presence of supersonic flow did not have a noticeable effect on surface convective heating augmentation. Data were directly leveraged to support the NASA Mars Sample Return flight program and this data set is valuable for validating computational solutions on roughness-resolved grids.

Mars Sample Return↗