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So what makes this golden age possible for sample return missions? The launches are cheaper, on the one hand, as are the hardware used to build the probes and landers. Instruments like spectrometers, which can identify the presence of different elements and compounds, are smaller and stronger and consume much less energy. The autonomous technology used to navigate these worlds has improved considerably – OSIRIS-REx in particular has benefited from the fact that the on-board Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) system provided real-time surface mapping to keep the probe safe from the dangerous rocks of Bennu. NFT is ready to help future robotic missions run smoothly and safely, sample return or otherwise.
Engineers also come up with other innovative ideas on how to collect and store these samples. Perseverance goes old-school with a drill kit to collect intact rock cores from the ground. OSIRIS-REx developed a pogo stick-shaped ‘touch and go’ collection system that lowered the spacecraft for a few seconds off Bennu and used compressed air to transport small rubble into the tank. collection container. Haybausa2 literally fired bullets at Ryugu. MMX will use simple pneumatic tires to collect the sandy material from Phobos.
For a Venus mission, scientists envisioned a spacecraft that can dive into the atmosphere and bottle gas. Cryogenic technologies will allow better storage of extraterrestrial birds—Or frozen items that can be vaporized. Fundamentally, every world has a unique environment and set of circumstances that dictate the best approach to sample collection, and our technologies are finally at the point where sampling methods that once seemed too difficult or difficult are reasonable to apply.
These are not surveys you can do with a simple field probe. There is simply no substitute for the types of investigations you can do on laboratory equipment here on Earth. Suppose we found evidence of DNA on Mars – Perseverance has no way to sequence it, and as of yet there is no way for a Martian probe to be equipped with the necessary equipment to do it. If we wanted to study rock samples to understand the history of Mars’ magnetic field, a rover just doesn’t have the capacity to perform these kinds of tests.
From paper to practice
So how exactly does a sample return assignment go from idea to execution? “For a sample return mission, it’s about accessibility to get there and accessibility to come back,” explains Richard Binzel, MIT astronomer and OSIRIS-REx co-investigator.
Certain destinations like the Moon and Mars have always been at the forefront of planetary minds, especially as we have learned more about the history of water on both bodies. But beyond these places, sample returns are more difficult to justify.
In Binzel’s opinion, the sample returns are still too difficult to obtain for all but the most important questions. These revolve around the origins of the solar system and the chemistry that led to life on Earth. “How far can we go back and get a time capsule of the beginning of all that is Earth and us?” he says. “It’s all about birds.” In the context of planetary science, this can mean water ice or nitrogen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen, methane, sulfur dioxide – the ingredients of life. If there are no birds – and therefore no indication was once habitable or could still be – a sample return mission seems highly unlikely.
Once the target is selected, however, engineers take over to determine the best way to collect the sample and bring it back. From there, scientists just have to play whatever cards they’re dealt with and hope that the material that comes back is suitable enough to study.
The benefits can be huge. Between 1969 and 1972, Apollo astronauts returned 842 pounds of moon rock. More than 50 years later, people are still studying them and posting articles detailing new perspectives. “We reanalyze and re-measure and use newly developed techniques to examine samples and come up with new questions,” says Bosak. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
The fact that these samples can be passed down from generation to generation, in which future scientists can use new technology and knowledge to refine their research and pursue questions that no one has thought of yet, means that there is a a powerful legacy worth pursuing. When Perseverance descends to Mars and visits Jezero Crater this month, it will collect material that scientists on Earth will study for decades, perhaps hundreds of years.
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