In Situ Biological Contamination Studies of the Moon: Implications for Planetary Protection and Life Detection Missions

NASA and ESA have outlined visions for solar system exploration that will include a series of lunar robotic precursor missions to prepare for, and support a human return to the Moon, and future human exploration of Mars and other destinations, including possibly asteroids. One of the guiding principles for exploration is to pursue compelling scientific questions about the origin and evolution of life. The search for life on objects such as Mars will require careful operations, and that all systems be sufficiently cleaned and sterilized prior to launch to ensure that the scientific integrity of extraterrestrial samples is not jeopardized by terrestrial organic contamination. Under the Committee on Space Research’s (COSPAR’s) current planetary protection policy for the Moon, no sterilization procedures are required for outbound lunar spacecraft, nor is there a different planetary protection category for human missions, although preliminary COSPAR policy guidelines for human missions to Mars have been developed. Future in situ investigations of a variety of locations on the Moon by highly sensitive instruments designed to search for biologically derived organic compounds would help assess the contamination of the Moon by lunar spacecraft. These studies could also provide valuable “ground truth” data for Mars sample return missions and help define planetary protection requirements for future Mars bound spacecraft carrying life detection experiments. In addition, studies of the impact of terrestrial contamination of the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts could provide valuable data to help refine future Mars surface exploration plans for a human mission to Mars.     

A laser altimeter for BepiColombo mission: Instrument design and performance model

This paper presents a definition study of a laser altimeter for the topographic exploration of Mercury. The reference scenario is the BepiColombo mission, a cornerstone mission of European Space Agency (ESA) planned for 2012. BepiColombo will offer the chance to make a remarkable new contribution to our knowledge of the Solar System, by venturing into the hot region near the Sun and exploring Mercury, the most enigmatic of the earth's sisters among the terrestrial planets. First images of Mercury surface were acquired by Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975 offering a coverage and resolution comparable to Earth-based telescopic coverage of the Moon before spaceflight. BepiColombo mission can be very beneficial by using an optical rangefinder for Mercury exploration. In fact starting from the first missions in 1970s until today, laser altimeters have been demonstrating to be particularly appropriate as part of the scientific payload whenever the topography of earth, lunar and planetary surface is the scientific objective of a space mission.Our system design is compliant to Mercury Polar Orbiter (MPO) of the mission. System performance analysis is carried out simulating main hermean topographic features and the potential targets on the planet by means of analytical models and computer codes and several plot are presented to analyse the performance of the instrument.     

Field geology on the Moon: Some lessons learned from the exploration of the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic

With the prospect of humans returning to Moon by the end of the next decade, considerable attention is being paid to technologies required to transport astronauts to the lunar surface and then to be able to carry out surface science. Recent and ongoing initiatives have focused on scientific questions to be asked. In contrast, few studies have addressed how these scientific priorities will be achieved. In this contribution, we provide some of the lessons learned from the exploration of the Haughton impact structure, an ideal lunar analogue site in the Canadian Arctic. Essentially, by studying how geologists carry out field science, we can provide guidelines for lunar surface operations. Our goal in this contribution is to inform the engineers and managers involved in mission planning, rather than the field geology community. Our results show that the exploration of the Haughton impact structure can be broken down into 3 distinct phases: (1) reconnaissance; (2) systematic regional-scale mapping and sampling; and (3) detailed local-scale mapping and sampling. This break down is similar to the classic scientific method practiced by field geologists of regional exploratory mapping followed by directed mapping at a local scale, except that we distinguish between two different phases of exploratory mapping. Our data show that the number of stops versus the number of samples collected versus the amount of data collected varied depending on the mission phase, as does the total distance covered per EVA. Thus, operational scenarios could take these differences into account, depending on the goals and duration of the mission. Important lessons learned include the need for flexibility in mission planning in order to account for serendipitous discoveries, the highlighting of key “science supersites” that may require return visits, the need for a rugged but simple human-operated rover, laboratory space in the habitat, and adequate room for returned samples, both in the habitat and in the return vehicle. The proposed set of recommendations ideally should be tried and tested in future analogue missions at terrestrial impact sites prior to planetary missions.     

Performance evaluation of underwater platforms in the context of space exploration

Robotic platforms are essential for future human planetary and lunar exploration as they can operate in more extreme environments with a greater endurance than human explorers. In this era of space exploration, a terrestrial analog that can be used for development of the coordination between manned and robotic vehicles will optimize the scientific return of future missions while concurrently minimizing the downtime of both human explorers and robotic platforms. This work presents the use of underwater exploratory robots - autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), remotely operated vehicles (ROV), and manned submersibles - as analogues for mixed human-robot exploration of space. Subaqueous settings present diverse challenges for navigation, operation and recovery that require the development of an exploration model of a similar complexity as required for space exploration. To capitalize on the strengths of both robotic and human explorers this work presents lessons learnt with respect to the fields of human-robotic interface (HRI) and operator training. These are then used in the development of mission evaluation tools: (1) a task efficiency index (TEI), (2) performance metrics, and (3) exploration metrics. Although these independent evaluations were useful for specific missions, further refinement will be required to fully evaluate the strengths and capabilities of multiple platforms in a human-robotic exploration campaign in order to take advantage of unforeseen science opportunities in remote settings.     

Assessment of a 2016 mission concept: The search for trace gases in the atmosphere of Mars

The reported detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars as well as its potentially large seasonal spatial variations challenge our understanding of both the sources and sinks of atmospheric trace gases. The presence of methane suggests ongoing exchange between the subsurface and the atmosphere of potentially biogenic trace gases, while the spatial and temporal variations cannot be accounted for with current knowledge of martian photochemistry. A Joint Instrument Definition Team (JIDT) was asked to assess concepts for a mission that might follow up on these discoveries within the framework of a series of joint missions being considered by ESA and NASA for possible future exploration of Mars. The following is based on the report of the JIDT to the space agencies (Zurek et al., 2009); a synopsis of the report was presented at the Workshop on Mars Methane held in Frascati, Italy, in November 2009. To summarize, the JIDT believed that a scientifically exciting and credible mission could be conducted within the evolving capabilities of the science/telecommunications orbiter being considered by ESA and NASA for possible launch in the 2016 opportunity for Mars.     

Life In Space: An Introduction To Space Life Sciences And The International Space Station

The impact of the space environment upon living organisms is profound. Its effects range from alterations in sub-cellular processes to changes in the structure and function of whole organ systems. As the number of astronaut and cosmonaut crews flown in space has grown, so to has our understanding of the effects of the space environment upon biological systems. There are many parallels between the physiology of space flight and terrestrial disease processes, and the response of astronaut crews themselves to long-duration space deployment is therefore of central interest. In the next 15 years the International Space Station (ISS) will serve as a permanently manned dedicated life and physical sciences platform for the further investigation of these phenomena. The European Space Agency's Columbus module will hold the bulk of the ISS life science capability and, in combination with NASA's Human Research Facility (HRF) will accommodate the rack mounted experimental apparatus. The programme of experimentation will include efforts in fundamental biology, human physiology, behavioural science and space biomedical research. In the four decades since Yuri Gagarin first orbited the Earth, space life science has emerged as a field of study in its own right. The ISS takes us into the next era of human space exploration, and it is hoped that its programme of research will yield new insights, novel therapeutic interventions, and improved biotechnology for terrestrial application. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The D-CIXS X-ray mapping spectrometer on SMART-1

The D-CIXS Compact X-ray Spectrometer will provide high quality spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, the primary science target of the ESA SMART-1 mission. D-CIXS consists of a high throughput spectrometer, which will perform spatially localised X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. It will also carry a solar monitor, to provide the direct calibration needed to produce a global map of absolute lunar elemental abundances, the first time this has been done. Thus it will achieve ground breaking science within a resource envelope far smaller than previously thought possible for this type of instrument, by exploiting two new technologies, swept charge devices and micro-structure collimators. The new technology does not require cold running, with its associated overheads to the spacecraft. At the same time it will demonstrate a radically novel approach to building a type of instrument essential for the BepiColombo mission and potential future planetary science targets.     

The legacy of Venus Express: highlights from the first European planetary mission to Venus

The ESA/Venus Express mission spent more than 8 years in orbit around Venus to extensively study its atmosphere, ionosphere and plasma environment and unveil new aspects of its surface. Extensive reviews of the work of Venus Express are underway, to cover in-depth studies of the new face of Venus revealed by Venus Express and ground-based concurrent observations. This paper intends to give a summarized and wide overview of some of the outstanding results in all the science areas studied by the mission. This paper will first review the main aspects of the mission and its instrumental payload. Then, a selection of results will be reviewed from the outermost layers interacting with the Solar wind, down to the surface of Venus. As Venus Express is already considered by space agencies as a pathfinder for the future of Venus exploration, perspectives for future missions will be given, which will have to study Venus not only from orbital view, but also down to the surface to solve the many remaining mysteries of the sister planet of the Earth.     

The scientific rationale for the C1XS X-ray spectrometer on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon

The UK-built Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) will fly as an ESA instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon, launched in October 2008. C1XS builds on experience gained with the earlier D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1, but will be a scientifically much more capable instrument. Here we describe the scientific objectives of this instrument, which include mapping the abundances of the major rock-forming elements (principally Mg, Al, Si, Ti, Ca and Fe) in the lunar crust. These data will aid in determining whether regional compositional differences (e.g., the Mg/Fe ratio) are consistent with models of lunar crustal evolution. C1XS data will also permit geochemical studies of smaller scale features, such as the ejecta blankets and central peaks of large impact craters, and individual lava flows and pyroclastic deposits. These objectives all bear on important, and currently unresolved, questions in lunar science, including the structure and evolution of any primordial magma ocean, as revealed by vertical and lateral geochemical variations in the crust, and the composition of the lunar mantle, which will further constrain theories of the Moon's origin, thermal history and internal structure.     

Optimization of lunar occultations for determining the positions of point-like X-ray sources

In view of the scheduled satellite mission EXOSAT (European X-Ray Observatory Satellite) of ESA (European Space Agency) the lunar occultation technique to determine the position of point-like X-ray sources is investigated. An error analysis for the source coordinates resulting from this technique is presented and an occultation strategy is proposed to achieve optimum lunar occultations. The analysis takes into account the errors of the space coordinates of the satellite and the Moon, the unevenness of the lunar surface, the intensities of source and background, the apparent angular velocity of the Moon as seen from the satellite, the finite sizes of the preoccultation position error boxes of the X-ray sources and the inaccuracies in the satellite orbit correction manoeuvres necessary to achieve the occultations.     

The advanced Moon micro-imager experiment (AMIE) on SMART-1: Scientific goals and expected results

The advanced Moon micro-imager experiment (AMIE) is the imaging system on board ESA mission to the Moon SMART-1; it makes use of a miniaturised detector and micro-processor electronics developed by SPACE X in the frame of the ESA technical programme. The AMIE micro-imager will provide high resolution CCD images of selected lunar areas and it will perform colour imaging through three filters at 750, 915 and 960 nm with a maximum resolution of 46 m/pixel at the perilune of 500 km. Specific scientific objectives will include (1) imaging of high latitude regions in the southern hemisphere, in particular the South Pole Aitken basin (SPA) and the permanently shadowed regions close to the South Pole, (2) determination of the photometric properties of the lunar surface from observations at different phase angles (physical properties of the regolith), (3) multi-band imaging for constraining the chemical and mineral composition of the surface, (4) detection and characterisation of lunar non-mare volcanic units, (5) study of lithological variations from impact craters and implications for crustal heterogeneity. The AMIE micro-imager will also support a Laser-link experiment to Earth, an On Board Autonomous Navigation investigation and a Lunar libration experiment coordinated with radio science measurements.     

Quantum physics exploring gravity in the outer solar system: the SAGAS project

We summarise the scientific and technological aspects of the Search for Anomalous Gravitation using Atomic Sensors (SAGAS) project, submitted to ESA in June 2007 in response to the Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 call for proposals. The proposed mission aims at flying highly sensitive atomic sensors (optical clock, cold atom accelerometer, optical link) on a Solar System escape trajectory in the 2020 to 2030 time-frame. SAGAS has numerous science objectives in fundamental physics and Solar System science, for example numerous tests of general relativity and the exploration of the Kuiper belt. The combination of highly sensitive atomic sensors and of the laser link well adapted for large distances will allow measurements with unprecedented accuracy and on scales never reached before. We present the proposed mission in some detail, with particular emphasis on the science goals and associated measurements and technologies.     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with artificial neural network processing for material identification

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has demonstrated its high potential in measurement of material composition in many areas including space exploration. LIBS instruments will be parts of payloads for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory NASA-led mission and the ExoMars mission planned by ESA. This paper considers application of artificial neural networks (ANN) for material identification based on LIBS spectra that may be obtained with a portable instrument in ambient conditions. The several classes of materials used in this study included those selected to represent the sites analogues to Mars. In addition, metals and aluminum alloys were used to demonstrate ANN capabilities. Excellent material classification is achieved with single-shot measurements in real time.     

Human spaceflight in the UK: the cost of non-participation

Human space exploration is not considered a strategic priority in the United Kingdom at present. However the UK would benefit from participating in human spaceflight, for both scientific and social reasons. From the point of view of medical science there are many parallels between the physiology of spaceflight and terrestrial disease processes, and studies of the response of astronauts to long-duration spaceflight can therefore help in the development of therapeutic strategies on Earth. On the social side, human spaceflight is an attractive vehicle for stimulating the interest of young people in science and engineering, something that must be of value for an aspiring ‘knowledge-based’ economy.     

SMART-1 mission description and development status

SMART-1 is the first of the Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology of the ESA Horizons 2000 scientific programme. The SMART-1 mission is dedicated to testing of new technologies for future cornerstone missions, using Solar-Electric Primary Propulsion (SEPP) in Deep Space. The chosen mission planetary target is the Moon. The target orbit will be polar with the pericentre close to the South-Pole. The pericentre altitude lies between 300 and 2000 km, while the apocentre will extend to about 10,000 km. During the cruise phase, before reaching the Moon, the spacecraft thrusting profile allows extended periods for cruise science. The SMART-1 spacecraft will be launched in the spring of 2003 as an auxiliary passenger on an Ariane 5 and placed into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The expected launch mass is about 370 kg, including 19 kg of payload. The selected type of SEPP is a Hall-effect thruster called PPS-1350. The thruster is used to spiral out of the GTO and for all orbit maneuvers including lunar capture and descent. The trajectory has been optimised by inserting coast arcs and the presence of the Moon's gravitational field is exploited in multiple weak gravity assists.The Development Phase started in October 1999 and is expected to be concluded by a Flight Acceptance Review in January 2003. The short development time for this high technology spacecraft requires a concerted effort by industry, science institutes and ESA centres. This paper describes the mission and the project development status both from a technical and programmatic standpoint.     

MarcoPolo-R near earth asteroid sample return mission

MarcoPolo-R is a sample return mission to a primitive Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) proposed in collaboration with NASA. It will rendezvous with a primitive NEA, scientifically characterize it at multiple scales, and return a unique sample to Earth unaltered by the atmospheric entry process or terrestrial weathering. MarcoPolo-R will return bulk samples (up to 2?kg) from an organic-rich binary asteroid to Earth for laboratory analyses, allowing us to: explore the origin of planetary materials and initial stages of habitable planet formation; identify and characterize the organics and volatiles in a primitive asteroid; understand the unique geomorphology, dynamics and evolution of a binary NEA. This project is based on the previous Marco Polo mission study, which was selected for the Assessment Phase of the first round of Cosmic Vision. Its scientific rationale was highly ranked by ESA committees and it was not selected only because the estimated cost was higher than the allotted amount for an M class mission. The cost of MarcoPolo-R will be reduced to within the ESA medium mission budget by collaboration with APL (John Hopkins University) and JPL in the NASA program for coordination with ESA’s Cosmic Vision Call. The baseline target is a binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3, which offers a very efficient operational and technical mission profile. A binary target also provides enhanced science return. The choice of this target will allow new investigations to be performed more easily than at a single object, and also enables investigations of the fascinating geology and geophysics of asteroids that are impossible at a single object. Several launch windows have been identified in the time-span 2020–2024. A number of other possible primitive single targets of high scientific interest have been identified covering a wide range of possible launch dates. The baseline mission scenario of MarcoPolo-R to 1996 FG3 is as follows: a single primary spacecraft provided by ESA, carrying the Earth Re-entry Capsule, sample acquisition and transfer system provided by NASA, will be launched by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kourou into GTO and using two space segment stages. Two similar missions with two launch windows, in 2021 and 2022 and for both sample return in 2029 (with mission duration of 7 and 8?years), have been defined. Earlier or later launches, in 2020 or 2024, also offer good opportunities. All manoeuvres are carried out by a chemical propulsion system. MarcoPolo-R takes advantage of three industrial studies completed as part of the previous Marco Polo mission (see ESA/SRE (2009)3, Marco Polo Yellow Book) and of the expertise of the consortium led by Dr. A.F. Cheng (PI of the NASA NEAR Shoemaker mission) of the JHU-APL, including JPL, NASA ARC, NASA LaRC, and MIT.     

环月飞行器精密定轨的模拟仿真

以中国正在实施的探月计划“嫦娥1号”工程为背景，分析了在中国联合S波段(USB)测控网和甚长基线射电干涉(VLBI)跟踪网的现有空间分布、观测精度水平下的环月飞行器精密定轨．采用的方法是模拟仿真计算，即首先模拟观测数据，然后在计入各误差源的影响后进行求解，并对解算结果进行比较．模拟仿真的工具是美国宇航局哥达德飞行中心的空间数据分析软件系统GEODYN．环月飞行的主要误差源是月球重力场，为此首先讨论了目前精度最高的月球重力场模型JGL165P1的(形式)误差．在模拟了测距、测速以及VLBI的时延、时延率数据后，计入月球重力场的误差进行精密轨道确定．定轨时采用了减缩动力学(reduced dynamic)方法，即选用合适的经验加速度参数吸收重力场误差对定轨的影响．结果表明对于一个不将月球重力场作为主要科学目标的探月计划(如“嫦娥1号”)，减缩动力学方法是一个简单、有效地提高环月飞行器定轨精度的方法．     

China's Lunar Exploration Program: Present and future

China launched its first lunar probe, Chang’E-1, at 6:05 p.m. (10:05 GMT), October 24, 2007. Chang’E-1 blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket from the No. 3 launch tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center of southwestern Sichuan Province. China National Space Administration performed the lunar orbit injection maneuver for Chang’E-1 at 11:25 a.m. on November 5, 2007 (China Standard Time). Chang’E-1 was injected into the lunar orbit after the maneuver, and will begin to explore the moon in the following 1 year. It is the first step into its ambitious three-phase moon mission, marking a new milestone in the Chinese space exploration history.