Synchronous separation, seaming, sealing and sterilization (S4) using brazing for sample containerization and planetary protection

Yoseph Bar-Cohen; Mircea Badescu; Xiaoqi Bao; Hyeong Jae Lee; Stewart Sherrit; David Freeman; Sergio Campos

doi:10.1117/12.2258673

12 April 2017 Synchronous separation, seaming, sealing and sterilization (S4) using brazing for sample containerization and planetary protection

Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Mircea Badescu, Xiaoqi Bao, Hyeong Jae Lee, Stewart Sherrit, David Freeman, Sergio Campos

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10168, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2017; 101680A (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2258673
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2017, Portland, Oregon, United States

Abstract

The potential return of samples back to Earth in a future NASA mission would require protection of our planet from the risk of bringing uncontrolled biological materials back with the samples. In order to ensure this does not happen, it would be necessary to “break the chain of contact (BTC)”, where any material reaching Earth would have to be inside a container that is sealed with extremely high confidence. Therefore, it would be necessary to contain the acquired samples and destroy any potential biological materials that may contaminate the external surface of their container while protecting the sample itself for further analysis. A novel synchronous separation, seaming, sealing and sterilization (S4) process for sample containerization and planetary protection has been conceived and demonstrated. A prototype double wall container with inner and outer shells and Earth clean interstitial space was used for this demonstration. In a potential future mission, the double wall container would be split into two halves and prepared on Earth, while the potential on-orbit execution would consist of inserting the sample into one of the halves and then mating to the other half and brazing. The use of brazing material that melts at temperatures higher than 500°C would assure sterilization of the exposed areas since all carbon bonds are broken at this temperature. The process would be executed in two-steps, Step-1: the double wall container halves would be fabricated and brazed on Earth; and Step-2: the containerization and sterilization process would be executed on-orbit. To prevent potential jamming during the process of mating the two halves of the double wall container and the extraction of the brazed inner container, a cone-within-cone approach has been conceived and demonstrated. The results of this study will be described and discussed.

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Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Mircea Badescu, Xiaoqi Bao, Hyeong Jae Lee, Stewart Sherrit, David Freeman, and Sergio Campos "Synchronous separation, seaming, sealing and sterilization (S4) using brazing for sample containerization and planetary protection", Proc. SPIE 10168, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2017, 101680A (12 April 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2258673

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