ROOM
72
Astronautics
T
he typical constraints of spaceflight
mean that the mass, the volume, the
power supply and the data feed of
pieces of equipment must be kept as low
as possible. Some analytical instruments
routinely used in research laboratories on Earth
- such as Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrometry (ICP-MS) - cannot be used in
space because it involves preparing a liquid
solution out of the sample.
Even if instruments on spacecraft have allowed
significant advances in a number of different fields,
to obtain high-precision analyses, it is necessary
to bring samples back to Earth. Sample return
Exploring our solar system has been keeping humankind busy for more than
100 years - from the theoretical work of ‘The Exploration of Cosmic Space by
Means of Reaction Devices’ by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1903 to the launch of
the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 to the recent sample return mission
OSIRIS-REx launched in 2016. Although orbiters and landers are equipped with
ever more accurate instruments and with increased capacities to study planets,
moons, asteroids and comets, analyses are still somewhat limited in comparison
to what can be done in laboratories on Earth. Here, Aurore Hutzler and Ludovic
Ferrière argue the case for Europe to develop its own curation facility so it can be
more involved in future sample return missions.
Aurore Hutzler
Post-doctoral
researcher, Natural
History Museum
Vienna, Austria
Europe needs facility to
handle extra-terrestrial
space material
While awaiting sample
return missions from
Mars, our only way to
study martian rocks in
the laboratory is with
meteorites. Although
Tissint meteorite (909 g
sample - NHMV-N9388)
was recovered shortly
after its fall on 18 July
2011, it was already
contaminated with
terrestrial elements.
Ludovic Ferrière
Co-curator of
collections, Natural
History Museum
Vienna, Austria
Kracher/NHMV
