HomeAstronomy & SpaceOpening of the Vacuum-Sealed, Apollo 17 core sample by Apollo Astronaut Gene Cernan.

Opening of the Vacuum-Sealed, Apollo 17 core sample by Apollo Astronaut Gene Cernan.

A satisfying and audible “pop” marked a successful piercing of the sealed Apollo 17 sample container using the ESA designed and built piercing tool. The tool forms part of a gas sampling system with a gas extraction manifold. It was designed and built by Washington University St Louis, U.S.

Francesca McDonald is the science and project lead of ESA’s contribution to the Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program. McDonaldis pictured at the center of this image with the piercing tool. The tool contains the pristine sample.

Francesca and colleague delivered the ESA piercing tool to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in late 2021 in preparation of the opening of the specially curated Apollo 17 core sample. It had remained sealed under vacuum since its collection in 1972 at the moon’s surface by Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan.

The job of tool was jokingly called the “Apollo can opener” amongst the team. The tool punctured the moon sample vacuum container in such a way as to aid capturing trapped lunar gases within.

This was successfully done in February 2022with the fragile gases then collected in dedicated canisters via an extraction manifold designed by a partner team at Washington University in Saint-Louis, U.S.

Combined science and engineering investigations are producing a set of findings on how well the CSVC performed and what can be learned for improving the sample return chain in the future.

The gas sample canisters are being sent to specialized laboratories around the world for detailed studies using highly sensitive mass spectrometry analytical techniques to learn about the origin and evolution of volatile species on the moon and to understand the geologic history of the Apollo 17 landing site.

Follow up work is commencing to assess the full performance of the tool and to attain a set of lessons learned for future volatile-rich sample return, containment and gas sampling. These can inform Artemis and Mars Sample Return.

The gas extraction experiment is part of the larger Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program. It is coordinating the analysis of several pristine moon samples from the Apollo era. ESA is involved in the opening of soil returned from the moon, for the first time.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest Science News Articles - PhysicsAlert.com

explore more