Report of the Science Community Workshop on the proposed First Sample Depot for the Mars Sample Return Campaign

Czaja, A. D. et al. (2023) Report of the Science Community Workshop on the proposed First Sample Depot for the Mars Sample Return Campaign. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 58(6), pp. 885-896. (doi: 10.1111/maps.13981)

Abstract

The Mars 2020/Mars Sample Return (MSR) Sample Depot Science Community Workshop was held on September 28 and 30, 2022, to assess the Scientifically-Return Worthy (SRW) value of the full collection of samples acquired by the rover Perseverance at Jezero Crater, and of a proposed subset of samples to be left as a First Depot at a location within Jezero Crater called Three Forks. The primary outcome of the workshop was that the community is in consensus on the following statement: The proposed set of ten sample tubes that includes seven rock samples, one regolith sample, one atmospheric sample, and one witness tube constitutes a SRW collection that: (1) represents the diversity of the explored region around the landing site, (2) covers partially or fully, in a balanced way, all of the International MSR Objectives and Samples Team scientific objectives that are applicable to Jezero Crater, and (3) the analyses of samples in this First Depot on Earth would be of fundamental importance, providing a substantial improvement in our understanding of Mars. At the conclusion of the meeting, there was overall community support for forming the First Depot as described at the workshop and placing it at the Three Forks site. The community also recognized that the diversity of the Rover Cache (the sample collection that remains on the rover after placing the First Depot) will significantly improve with the samples that are planned to be obtained in the future by the Perseverance rover and that the Rover Cache is the primary target for MSR to return to Earth.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hallis, Dr Lydia
• Authors: Czaja, A. D., Zorzano, M.‐P., Kminek, G., Meyer, M. A., Beaty, D. W., Sefton‐Nash, E., Carrier, B. L., Thiessen, F., Haltigin, T., Bouvier, A., Dauphas, N., French, K. L., Hallis, L. J., Harris, R. L., Hauber, E., Rodriguez, L. E., Schwenzer, S. P., Steele, A., Tait, K. T., Thorpe, M. T., Usui, T., Vanhomwegen, J., Velbel, M. A., Edwin, S., Farley, K. A., Glavin, D. P., Harrington, A. D., Hays, L. E., Hutzler, A., and Wadhwa, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Meteoritics and Planetary Science
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1086-9379
• ISSN (Online): 1945-5100
• Published Online: 28 May 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The Authors
• First Published: First published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science 58(6):885-896
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license