Masanao Abe

The Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center of JAXA curates the Hayabusa-returned samples in conditions of minimum terrestrial contaminants, because these samples are very tiny. We evaluated the cleanliness of the handling instruments, the cleanroom environments and the sample storage chamber to improve the cleanliness of particles, organic molecules and metallic elements to a level not to affect the analyses of the Hayabusa-returned samples. In the environment of the clean chamber No. 2 where the samples have been stored, the organic molecule abundance was lower than the detection limit, furthermore, metallic elemental concentrations were the lowest among other evaluated place. A multi-stage ultrasonic cleaning by organic solvents and the ultrapure water have been applied to instruments made of stainless steel and/or aluminum alloy, and additionally, acid-alkali liquids cleaning have been performed for those made of quartz glasses. For the cleanliness of quartz glasses after the cleaning, the organic molecules abundances were blank level, and the metallic element concentrations were 1～100×10⁹atom/cm²/24 h. It was confirmed by optical microscope that no particle of size more than 10 μm was observed on quartz glasses after the cleaning.

47th ISAS Lunar and Planetary Symposium (August 4-6, 2014. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)(ISAS)), Sagamihara, Kanagawa Japan

The Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center of JAXA curates the Hayabusa-returned samples in conditions of minimum terrestrial contaminants, because these samples are very tiny. We evaluated the cleanliness of the handling instruments, the cleanroom environments and the sample storage chamber to improve the cleanliness of particles, organic molecules and metallic elements to a level not to affect the analyses of the Hayabusa-returned samples. In the environment of the clean chamber No. 2 where the samples have been stored, the organic molecule abundance was lower than the detection limit, furthermore, metallic elemental concentrations were the lowest among other evaluated place. A multi-stage ultrasonic cleaning by organic solvents and the ultrapure water have been applied to instruments made of stainless steel and/or aluminum alloy, and additionally, acid-alkali liquids cleaning have been performed for those made of quartz glasses. For the cleanliness of quartz glasses after the cleaning, the organic molecules abundances were blank level, and the metallic element concentrations were 1～100×10<sup>9</sup>atom/cm<sup>2</sup>/24 h. It was confirmed by optical microscope that no particle of size more than 10 μm was observed on quartz glasses after the cleaning.

地球外物質の採取・記載・保管および配布の目的で発足したJAXAキュレーションセンターでは,現在は小惑星イトカワにタッチダウンした探査機「はやぶさ」の試料を取り扱っている.「はやぶさ」から分離して地球帰還した再突入カプセルを受け入れ,その内部の試料コンテナを取り出してクリーンチェンバー内に導入し,開封を行った.試料コンテナ内の残留ガスから地球外起源の希ガスは検出できなかったが,キャッチャー内部からは主にケイ酸塩鉱物から成る微粒子を回収した.初期記載の結果,それらの鉱物比・鉱物組成がLL4-6コンドライト隕石に近いことが分かり,イトカワ試料と確認された.現在までに400個以上の粒子の回収・初期記載を行い,そのうち8割がイトカワ粒子だった.キュレーションセンターではこの試料を初期分析チーム,NASA,国際公募研究に対して配布し,多様な科学成果が挙がっている.