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Evaluating Core Quality for a Mars Sample Return MissionSample return missions, including the proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, propose to collect core samples from scientifically valuable sites on Mars. These core samples would undergo extreme forces during the drilling process, and during the reentry process if the EEV (Earth Entry Vehicle) performed a hard landing on Earth. Because of the foreseen damage to the stratigraphy of the cores, it is important to evaluate each core for rock quality. However, because no core sample return mission has yet been conducted to another planetary body, it remains unclear as to how to assess the cores for rock quality. In this report, we describe the development of a metric designed to quantitatively assess the mechanical quality of any rock cores returned from Mars (or other planetary bodies). We report on the process by which we tested the metric on core samples of Mars analogue materials, and the effectiveness of the core assessment metric (CAM) in assessing rock core quality before and after the cores were subjected to shocking (g forces representative of an EEV landing).
Document ID
20150005474
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Other
External Source(s)
Authors
Weiss, D. K.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Budney, C.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Shiraishi, L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Klein, K.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
April 10, 2015
Publication Date
August 1, 2012
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Mars samples
core assessment metric (CAM)
sample return mission
Mars Sample Return (MSR)

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