Modular Container System Preserves Sample Integrity

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office (AACO) at NASA Johnson Space Center currently curates 500 milligrams of the regolith sample from the Asteroid Ryugu that was collected by the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa II spacecraft and returned to Earth in 2021. In September 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned 70 grams of regolith collected from the surface of Asteroid Bennu. These astromaterial sample collections are stored and handled in gloveboxes and desiccators that are continuously purged with ultrapure nitrogen in order to minimize contamination and alteration of extraterrestrial samples from terrestrial environments. For collaborative astromaterial sample research conducted outside of the AACO, a need emerged for a sample container system suitable for global transport, capable of maintaining the same low-oxygen envi-ronment as laboratory gloveboxes. Thus, the MCS was developed. MSC’s of different sizes (2, 4, and 8-inch sample container models) have been developed to store contact pads and bulk samples from NASA missions, including the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Bennu mission. MCS’s are designed with seal profiles to prevent oxygen from seeping into the sample container. Additionally, the MCS uses a sample container form-factor that optimizes favorable nitrogen to oxygen gas ratios. The final prototypes were tested and verified using optochemical sensors to measure trace oxygen levels within the sealed containers. The Modular Container System (MCS) could fill a critical gap in the existing high-purity logistics and storage market in its ability to provide a passively maintained, verifiable, multi-year, glovebox-level low-oxygen environment in a portable robust form-factor. Although this technology was originally developed for astromaterial transport and storage, commercial applications may also exist in biopharmaceutical/ bio-banking, microelectronics/ semiconductor, and other industries. Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a modular container system, or “MCS” for short, that provides a portable extension to laboratory gloveboxes for the contaminant-free transport and storage of samples of interest. Designed to minimize the oxygen concentration within its sample container, the MCS has been designed for containment of precious extraterrestrial sample material, and can readily facilitate sample transport to members of the global scientific community for analysis. A sample of interest needs to be kept in a low-oxygen environment during transport and storage that is comparable to its working envi-ronment within a science glovebox. Previous container designs could not provide the low-oxygen environment for more than a couple days in ambient conditions. The MCS has been tested in various configurations and sizes and is designed to provide a stable low-oxygen environment ranging from months to years. The MCS provides a high-value proposition for industries where sample or component integrity is compromised by trace oxygen and moisture. The Modular Container System (MCS) is now available for patent licens-ing. Please note that NASA does not manufacture products itself for commercial sale.