Abstract
Time-Sensitive Aspects of Mars Sample Return (MSR) Science.
Highlights
The successful landing of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover on 18 February 2021 at Jezero Crater comes at a critical juncture in Solar System exploration
Any samples returned from Mars would be placed under quarantine at a Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) until it can be determined that they are safe to release to other
The process of breaking the sample tube seal and extracting the headspace gas would perturb local equilibrium conditions between gas and rock and set in motion irreversible processes that proceed as a function of time
Summary
The successful landing of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover on 18 February 2021 at Jezero Crater comes at a critical juncture in Solar System exploration. From the moment that samples are collected and sealed within the Perseverance rover to the time that they are opened on Earth, the samples would have experienced a complex temperature history spanning several years This temperature history would be monitored by a variety of on-board and remotely acquired temperature measurements, it is likely to involve transfer of volatile compounds to and from minerals contained within the geological samples anticipated at Jezero Crater and the sample headspace gas. Important is the expectation that, assuming the sample tube seals are still intact, breaking that seal and extracting the headspace gas will perturb local equilibrium conditions between gas and rock and set in motion volatile exchange processes that proceed as a function of time Unless these processes are understood and/or accounted for or monitored once the sample tubes are opened, irreversible changes may occur to both geological samples and headspace gas that could jeopardize scientific information gained from further analysis. Understanding these “time-sensitive” processes and their capacity to jeopardize Mars returned sample science and identifying strategies to maximize the retrieval of scientific information within biocontainment are the focus of this report
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