Planetary Sample Analysis Laboratory (SAL) at DLR

Introduction:  Building on the available infrastructure and the long heritage in spectral studies of planetary (analog) materials DLR is creating a Sample Analysis Laboratory (SAL). The setup has started with the installation of a vis-IR-microscope at the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory in 2018. Full funding has been approved in December 2019.SAL will add over the next 3 years capabilities for detailed mineralogical and geochemical characterization of material return by sample return missions in a clean room facility. The step-wise extension follows the successful development approach used for the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) and Astrobiology Laboratories. The goal is to test and validate each extension step before planning the follow-up step. The first step is focused on analysing samples from asteroids missions like Hayabusa 2 mission, Osiris-REX and lunar sample return missions. SAL can later be extended to a full Sample Curation facility.Global reconnaissance of planetary surface can only be obtained by remote sensing methods. Optical spectroscopy from UV to far-infrared is playing a key role to determine surface mineralogy, texture, weathering processes, volatile abundances etc. It is a very versatile technique, which will continue to be of importance for many years to come. Providing ground truth by in-situ measurements and ultimately sample return can significantly enhanced the scientific return of the global remote sensing data. This motivates the planned extension of PSL with a SAL by support of the Astrobiology Laboratories.SAL will focus on spectroscopy on the microscopic scale and geochemical and geo-microbiological analysis methods to study elemental composition and isotopic ratios in addition to mineralogy to derive information on the formation and evolution of planetary surfaces, search for traces of organic materials or even traces of extinct or extant life and inclusions of water.The DLR SAL will be operated as a community facility (much like PSL), supporting the larger German and European sample analysis communityCurrent facilities: PSL at DLR (http://s.dlr.de/2siu) is the only spectroscopic infrastructure in the world with the capability to measure emissivity of powder materials, in air or in vacuum, from low to very high temperatures, over an extended spectral range. Emissivity measurements are complimented by reflectance and transmittance measurements produced simultaneously with the same setup. It is the ground reference laboratory for the MERTIS thermal infrared spectral imager on the ESA BepiColombo mission. Members of the PSL group are team members of the MarsExpress, VenusExpress, MESSENGER and JAXA Hayabusa 2 missions. For the latter mission PSL has performed ground calibration measurements. In addition PSL has been used extensively in support of the ESA Rosetta mission. The samples analyzed at PSL ranged from rocks, minerals, to meteorites and Apollo lunar soil samples.In a climate-controlled environment PSL operates currently two Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) vacuum spectrometers, equipped with internal and external chambers, to measure emittance, transmittance and reflectance of powdered or solid samples in the wavelength range from 0.3 to beyond 100 micron. Recently a Hyperion 2000 microscope has been added in preparation of the SAL setup.The institute is also operating a Raman micro-spectrometer lab (http://s.dlr.de/e49q) with a spot size on the sample in focus of