Orion Goddard Nasa Social 2014
Main Electronics Box (MEB)
Contains the majority of electrical connections and components vital for SAM's functionality.
Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS)
The TLS uses absorption of light at specific wavelengths to measure concentrations and isotope ratios of specific chemicals important to life: methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.
Gas Chromatograph (GC)
The GC has six different chromatographic columns. The GC assembly sorts and detects individual volatile compounds it separates from complex mixtures of gases through long (-100 feet and narrow (-1/100 in inner diameter) metal tubes (wound into coils) with a stream of helium gas, it sorts the gas molecules through interactions of the gas molecules with a stationary phase inside the metal tube: the gases elute from the column at different times known as the "retention time" of the compound. Once the gases elute from the column they are detected directly by thermal conductivity (TCD) and are identified by mass to charge ratio using electron impact ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS)
Wide Range Pump (WRP)
The wide range pump, about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) across, spins at up to 100,000 revolutions per minute for moving gases out of the system between analyses of different samples.
Solid Sample Inlet Tubes (SSIT)
This is where the rover's robotic arm will deliver powdered samples that the rover drills from rocks or scoops from soil. The inlet is a highly polished funnel that vibrates to get all of the sample material down into a cup at the bottom of the tube.
Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS)
This identifies gases by the molecular weight and electrical charge of their ionized states. It will check for several elements important for life as we know it, including carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, nitrtogen, oxygen and phosphorus contained in volatile molecules.
Sample Manipulation System (SMS)
The SMS consists of a double ring carousel that holds 74 individual cups where solid samples can be received from the solid sample inlet tube (SSIT) and placed inside one of two pyrolysis ovens. 59 quarts cups can be heated up to very high temperatures (-1800 degrees Fahrenheit) to extract gases from the powdered samples. 9 fluid filled sealed metal cups that can be punctured inside the SMS are used for lower temperature wet chemistry experiments designed to search for certain polar organic compounds including amino acids and carboxylic acids. The other 6 metal cups containing solid samples for instrument calibration.
-----------
Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Test Bed, Building 34 Room C-180
SAM is a suite of instruments onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, SAM's five science goals address three of the most fundamental questions about the ability of Mars to support life - past, present and future.
Presenter: Melissa Trainer, research space scientist & Jen Stern geochemist.
Learn more at: ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov
-----------
For the first time ever, all 10 NASA field centers participated in a multi-center NASA Social event Dec. 3, previewing the Dec. 4 first flight of the Orion Spacecraft on Exploration Flight Test-1.
Goddard hosted up to 25 social media followers to attend an afternoon celebrating the Orion launch. Attendees toured the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory, where Martian meteorites and other samples are tested to answer two of the biggest mysteries facing humanity: How did we get here? And are we alone? We'll also tour Goddard's massive Integration and Testing Facility, where spacecraft are built and tested and the world's largest cleanroom where the James Webb Space Telescope is being constructed. Webb is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built.
Orion Goddard Nasa Social 2014
Main Electronics Box (MEB)
Contains the majority of electrical connections and components vital for SAM's functionality.
Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS)
The TLS uses absorption of light at specific wavelengths to measure concentrations and isotope ratios of specific chemicals important to life: methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.
Gas Chromatograph (GC)
The GC has six different chromatographic columns. The GC assembly sorts and detects individual volatile compounds it separates from complex mixtures of gases through long (-100 feet and narrow (-1/100 in inner diameter) metal tubes (wound into coils) with a stream of helium gas, it sorts the gas molecules through interactions of the gas molecules with a stationary phase inside the metal tube: the gases elute from the column at different times known as the "retention time" of the compound. Once the gases elute from the column they are detected directly by thermal conductivity (TCD) and are identified by mass to charge ratio using electron impact ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS)
Wide Range Pump (WRP)
The wide range pump, about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) across, spins at up to 100,000 revolutions per minute for moving gases out of the system between analyses of different samples.
Solid Sample Inlet Tubes (SSIT)
This is where the rover's robotic arm will deliver powdered samples that the rover drills from rocks or scoops from soil. The inlet is a highly polished funnel that vibrates to get all of the sample material down into a cup at the bottom of the tube.
Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS)
This identifies gases by the molecular weight and electrical charge of their ionized states. It will check for several elements important for life as we know it, including carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, nitrtogen, oxygen and phosphorus contained in volatile molecules.
Sample Manipulation System (SMS)
The SMS consists of a double ring carousel that holds 74 individual cups where solid samples can be received from the solid sample inlet tube (SSIT) and placed inside one of two pyrolysis ovens. 59 quarts cups can be heated up to very high temperatures (-1800 degrees Fahrenheit) to extract gases from the powdered samples. 9 fluid filled sealed metal cups that can be punctured inside the SMS are used for lower temperature wet chemistry experiments designed to search for certain polar organic compounds including amino acids and carboxylic acids. The other 6 metal cups containing solid samples for instrument calibration.
-----------
Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Test Bed, Building 34 Room C-180
SAM is a suite of instruments onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, SAM's five science goals address three of the most fundamental questions about the ability of Mars to support life - past, present and future.
Presenter: Melissa Trainer, research space scientist & Jen Stern geochemist.
Learn more at: ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov
-----------
For the first time ever, all 10 NASA field centers participated in a multi-center NASA Social event Dec. 3, previewing the Dec. 4 first flight of the Orion Spacecraft on Exploration Flight Test-1.
Goddard hosted up to 25 social media followers to attend an afternoon celebrating the Orion launch. Attendees toured the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory, where Martian meteorites and other samples are tested to answer two of the biggest mysteries facing humanity: How did we get here? And are we alone? We'll also tour Goddard's massive Integration and Testing Facility, where spacecraft are built and tested and the world's largest cleanroom where the James Webb Space Telescope is being constructed. Webb is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built.