Instrumentation for Mars Sample Return

火星样品返回MSR的目的是将不同岩石类型的岩心样品带回地球实验室进行详细分析，包括寻找古代生命的痕迹。MSR的第一部分从Mars2020使命开始，该使命旨在对20多个不同的岩石样本进行取样。随后，在21世纪20年代，一个取回漫游者将收集缓存的岩心，并通过火星上升运载工具将其送回地球，随后将其送入地球航天器。这一重大的行星科学努力将涉及许多国家。MSR最大的技术挑战之一是行星保护和样品的管理。联合王国希望能收集一些样本。作为准备工作的一部分，莱斯特大学空间研究中心正在开发双壁隔离器DWI技术。这可以保护地球生态系统免受火星微生物的任何理论风险，重要的是最大限度地减少火星钻井岩心受到陆地有机物的污染。这个硕士或博士项目将进一步发展现有的DWI技术，为MSR做准备，特别是如何在DWI环境中进行科学分析，例如光学显微镜，岩石分裂，CT扫描。您将与空间研究中心的行星科学和仪器团队一起学习。

Mars Sample Return MSR has the aim of bringing back cored samples of different rock types to Earth's laboratories to make detailed analyses, including searching for traces of ancient life. The first part of MSR is starting with the Mars2020 mission which aims to core over 20 diverse rock samples. Subsequently, in the 2020s, a fetch rover will collect the cached drill cores and send them back to Earth via a Mars Ascent vehicle and subsequent delivery into an Earth-bound spacecraft. This major planetary science endeavour will involve many countries. One of the great technological challenges of MSR is planetary protection and curation of the samples. The UK hopes to curate some of the samples. As part of this preparation, Double Walled Isolator DWI technology is being developed in the Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester. This allows protection of the Earth's ecosystems from any theoretical risk of martian microbes and importantly minimises contamination of the martian drill cores by terrestrial organics. This MPhil or PhD project will further develop the existing DWI technology in preparation for MSR, in particular how to make scientific analyses e.g. optical microscopy, rock splitting, CT scanning in a DWI environment. You will study with a planetary science and instrumentation team at the Space Research Centre.