HAYABUSA Contamination Control

JSC took the lead in formulating and implementing the Contamination Control Plan for the STARDUST mission. This plan will be used to formulate similar procedures to ensure that the returned Hayabusa samples remain as pristine as possible, so that the maximum may be learned from its study.

Hayabusa differs from STARDUST and Genesis spacecraft in an important way. The sample return capsule will be hermetically sealed during reentry, to preclude the possibility of terrestrial contamination of the asteroid sample during this critical period. This precaution will simplify the contamination problems being faced by mission designers, but present the capsule engineers with a daunting challenge.

Particulate and non-volatile residue (NVR) witness plates will be used to monitor facility contamination fallout levels during ground processing of the Hayabusa spacecraft, as they were for STARDUST. Additional witness plates will also be flying on the spacecraft, so that in-flight contamination can be assessed in 2006.