Microbiological sampling of spacecraft cabling, antennas, solar panels and thermal blankets

Sampling procedures and techniques described resulted from various flight project microbiological monitoring programs of unmanned planetary spacecraft. Concurrent with development of these procedures, compatibility evaluations were effected with the cognizant spacecraft subsystem engineers to assure that degradation factors would not be induced during the monitoring program. Of significance were those areas of the spacecraft configuration for which special handling precautions and/or nonstandard sample gathering techniques were evolved. These spacecraft component areas were: cabling, high gain antenna, solar panels, and thermal blankets. The compilation of these techniques provides a historical reference for both the qualification and quantification of sampling parameters as applied to the Mariner Spacecraft of the late 1960's and early 1970's.