A New Facility for the Planetary Science Community at DLR: the Planetary Sample Analysis Laboratory (SAL).

Abstract

Introduction: Laboratory measurements of extra-terrestrial materials like meteorites and ultimately materials from sample return missions can significantly enhance the scientific return of the global remote sensing data.This motivated the addition of a dedicated Sample Analysis Laboratory (SAL) to complement the work of well established facilities like the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) and the Astrobiology Laboratories within the Department of Planetary Laboratories at DLR, Berlin. SAL is being developed in preparation to receive samples from sample return missions such as JAXA Hayabusa 2 and MMX missions, the Chinese Chang-E 5 and 6 missions as well as the NASA Osiris-REX mission. SAL will be focusing on spectroscopic, geochemical, mineralogical analyses at microscopic level with the ultimate aim to derive information on the formation and evolution of planetary bodies and surfaces, search for traces of organic materials or even traces of extinct or extant life and presence of water.Sample Analysis Laboratory: The near-term goalis to set up the facilities  on time to receive samples from the Hayabusa 2 mission. The operations have already started in 2018 with the acquisition of a vis-IR-microscope and it will continue with the acquisition of: Field Emission Gun - scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), Field Emission Gun – electron microprobe analyser (FEG-EMPA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) system with interchangeable optics for μXRD analysis anda polarised light microscope for high resolution imaging and mappingThe facilities will be hosted in a clean room (ISO 5) equipped with glove boxes and micromanipulators to handle and prepare samples. All samples will be stored under dry nitrogen and can be transported between the instruments  with dedicated shuttles in order to avoid them to enter in contact with the external environment. Based on current planning the first parts of SAL will be operational and ready for certification by end of 2022.Current facilities: To characterize and analyse the returned samples, SAL facilities will work jointly with the existing spectroscopic capabilities of PLL.PLL has the only spectroscopic infrastructure in the world with the capability to measure emissivity of powder materials, in air or in vacuum, from low to very high temperatures [1-3], over an extended spectral range from 0.2 to 200 µm. Emissivity measurements are complemented by reflectance and transmittance measurements produced simultaneously with the same set-up. Recently a vis-IR-microscope was added to extend spectral analysis to the sub-micron scale. In addition, the department is operating a Raman micro-spectrometer with a spot size on the sample in focus of