NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
The Sample Analysis at Mars Investigation and Instrument SuiteThe Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) addresses the chemical and isotopic composition of the atmosphere and volatiles extracted from solid samples. The SAM investigation is designed to contribute substantially to the mission goal of quantitatively assessing the habitability of Mars as an essential step in the search for past or present life on Mars. SAM is a 40 kg instrument suite located in the interior of MSL's Curiosity rover. The SAM instruments are a quadrupole mass spectrometer, a tunable laser spectrometer, and a 6-column gas chromatograph all coupled through solid and gas processing systems to provide complementary information on the same samples. The SAM suite is able to measure a suite of light isotopes and to analyze volatiles directly from the atmosphere or thermally released from solid samples. In addition to measurements of simple inorganic compounds and noble gases SAM will conduct a sensitive search for organic compounds with either thermal or chemical extraction from sieved samples delivered by the sample processing system on the Curiosity rover's robotic arm,
Document ID
20120002542
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Mahaffy, Paul (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Webster, Christopher R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Conrad, Pamela G. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Arvey, Robert (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Bleacher, Lora (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Brinckerhoff, William B. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Eigenbrode, Jennifer L. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Chalmers, Robert A. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Dworkin, Jason P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Errigo, Therese (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Farley, Rodger (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Feng, Steven (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Frazier, Gregory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Glavin, Daniel P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Harpold, Daniel N. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Jordan, Partick (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kellogg, James (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Lewis, Jesse (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Martin, David K. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Maurer, John (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McAdam, Amy C. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McLennan, Douglas (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Pavlov, Alexander A. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Raaen, Eric (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Schinman, Oren (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2012
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.6685.2012
GSFC.JA.5567.2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available