ROOM
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Astronautics
implementation of a European Extra-terrestrial
Sample Curation Facility (ESCF) to involve Europe
more in sample return missions.
The EURO-CARES consortium is composed
of planetary science researchers and curators,
biosafety specialists, and engineers, from all parts
of Europe (
.
There have been a few previous studies on
curation facilities, which have typically been either
country-specific or mission/target specific [5].
EURO-CARES proposes to move onwards from
these specific studies to look at what would need
to be done to create a European facility that would
be suitable for the curation of samples from all
possible return missions likely over the next few
decades to the Moon, asteroids and Mars.
The project considers all different aspects,
starting with the landing of the Earth Return
Capsule (ERC). A team is focused on how to bring
the ERC to the curation facility, then the process
of receiving and opening the different layers
to access the samples. All activities related to
curation are roadmapped in the framework of
EURO-CARES.
Curation or science?
The term ‘curation’ covers all activities related to
organising and maintaining a collection of artifacts,
art pieces or scientific samples. Although a number
of curatorial centres and institutions may have
dedicated scientific laboratories, one of the main
purposes of curation is to make precious samples
available to science for several generations.
In the case of a curation facility for mission
returned samples, the frontier between what is
pure curation and what is science can sometimes
be blurred. The EURO-CARES team defined that
the ESCF has two main goals: first, conducting
basic analyses to characterise the samples and
associated hardware, then curating
sensu stricto
,
i.e., storing, handling and managing the samples
as a valuable scientific resource for generations of
researchers to study.
The first step is the phase of Sample
Early Characterisation (SEC), which aims at
characterising the samples with non-destructive
methods, to set the basics for high-quality
research to be conducted afterwards (i.e., outside
of the facility, in state-of-the-art, dedicated
laboratories). The next step is the Preliminary
Examination (PE) phase, in which further analyses
against a range of contaminants which may
affect the scientific analysis to be conducted.
For restricted mission samples, in addition,
containment is required to prevent the release of
any biohazards in the environment until they can
either be proven to be devoid of any life-forms
or be effectively sterilised to destroy any life-
forms [3, 4]. The co-requirements for a combined
high containment and ultraclean facility are
unique and will lead to the development of a
highly specialised and unique facility that will
require the development of novel scientific and
engineering techniques.
The objective of the EURO-CARES (European
Curation of Astromaterials Returned from
Exploration of Space) - a three-year project
funded by the European Commission’s Horizon
2020 research programme from January 2015 to
December 2017 - was to create a roadmap for the
There is currently no dedicated curation facility for pristine extra-
terrestrial samples on European territory
Ludovic Ferrière in front
of a positive pressure
glovebox, containing lunar
rock samples at the
Johnson Space Center’s
Lunar Curation Laboratory.
The glovebox is filled with
nitrogen to minimise the
samples’ alteration.
Bottom: Overview of
Johnson Space Center’s
Lunar Curation Laboratory,
equipped with gloveboxes
dedicated to Apollo sample
return missions. Note the
windows at the end of the
room, separating the high
cleanliness part of the
facility from a monitor
room.
Ferrière/NHMV
Ferrière/NHMV
