Instrumentation for Mars Sample Return

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.