Planetary Protection for ExoMars
- Paper number
IAC-08.A3.3.B9
- Author
Mr. David Spilling, Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Vincenzo Guarnieri, Thales Alenia Space Italy, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Gerhard Kminek, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Year
2008
- Abstract
COSPAR Planetary Protection (PP) policies place stringent requirements on the launch bioburden of Mars missions depending on mission type. The next ESA Mars lander, ExoMars, is categorised as IVb as it will fly with life detection instruments. SEA is supporting the Thales Alenia system team on the ESA-funded ExoMars project in the domain of PP. This paper reports the latest status of those activities. The broad issues surrounding PP include the utility of various sterilisation techniques, spacecraft materials compatibility, facility capability and cleanliness, and AIV flow. Similar to some previous missions, the overall AIV approach to be taken for ExoMars in order to meet launch bioburden requirements will be based on a component and subsystem sterilisation, followed by bioburden controlled assembly up to launch. In order to highlight the particular issues and the level of detail necessary for PP planning, particular areas and subsystems of interest are discussed in some detail. In addition to the COSPAR PP requirement, the sensitivity of the analytical instruments places stringent contamination control requirements on the entire the spacecraft. This presents particular difficulties in terms of precision cleaning, verification, and contamination budget allocation. Although this area is still currently under investigation within the ExoMars project, the current status is described.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A3.3.B9.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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