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Advanced Curation Development of Tools and Methods for Microparticle CurationThe Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center is currently developing new tools and methods for the collection, storage, handling and characterization of particles less than 100 microns in diameter, or microparticles. Astromaterials Curation currently maintains four microparticle collections: Cosmic Dust that has been collected in Earth’s stratosphere by ER2 and WB-57 aircraft, Comet 81P/Wild 2 dust returned by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft, interstellar dust that was returned by Stardust, and asteroid Itokawa particles that were returned by the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)’s Hayabusa spacecraft. NASA Curation is currently preparing for the anticipated return of two new astromaterials collections – asteroid Ryugu regolith to be collected by Hayabusa II spacecraft in 2021 (samples will be provided by JAXA as part of an international agreement), and asteroid Bennu regolith to be collected by the OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer) spacecraft in 2023. In order to maximize the scientific yield from these valuable acquisitions, it will be necessary to develop methods that extend our current microsample handling capabilities. Here we describe recent progress in the development of sample handling techniques that will enhance our microparticle curation capabilities. Further described are: Six-Axis Robot Arms for Particle Manipulation, and Charge-Dissipative Substrates.
Document ID
20190000016
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Snead, Christopher
(Jacobs Technology, Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
McCubbin, Francis
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Jang, Jeffrey
(Texas State Univ. San Marcos, TX, United States)
Cowden, Thomas
(Texas State Univ. San Marcos, TX, United States)
Rahman, Zia
(Jacobs Technology, Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
January 8, 2019
Publication Date
December 4, 2018
Subject Category
Geophysics
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
JSC-E-DAA-TN63172
Meeting Information
Meeting: Symposium of Solar System Materials (Hayabusa 2018)
Location: Tokyo
Country: Japan
Start Date: December 4, 2018
End Date: December 7, 2018
Sponsors: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNJ13HA01C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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