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Visions of Mars Landing May 25.
  

Projects: LIFE Experiment: Phobos

LIFE Bio Module: The Current Design

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  1. The outer housing is Titanium which has a high modulus of strength to weight. The shell is machined with “pockets” which reduce weight but do not diminish its strength. This “waffle” type of design is common in aerospace structural design.

  2. The inner carrier is ceramic or glass so that it is easily sterilized and has material machined away to limit mass. The thirty pockets along with the central cavity remove material and thus mass.

  3. There are 30 each 3mm diameter polymer (Delrin or Polypropylene) containers which hold the microbe samples in the cavities. There is a polymer central container for the permafrost sample as well.

  4. The planetary protection is accomplished first by sealing the end caps on the polymer capsules in each of the thirty-one cavities (30+1).  The ceramic carrier has a top half which has “pegs” or diameters matching the cavities in the lower half and these secure the capsules and prevent the end caps from separating during flight. Next there is a silicone O-Ring sandwiched between the two halves of the carrier external to the sample cavities and this polymer seal acts as a secondary containment (seal). This completes sealing the carrier assembly.

  5. The ceramic carrier is contained by three Titanium clips which keep the two halves of the carrier under sealing pressure. These clips are also retained by metallic or Kapton tape circumferentially.

  6. The carrier is then surrounded by a layer of polymer foam such as silicone or Poron (Urethane) to mitigate launch and landing shock.

  7. The sealed and wrapped assembly is placed into the bottom half of the Titanium housing and a tertiary seal of wire (Indium) is placed in a groove between the top and bottom housings and the top turned engaging three integral locking lugs which are then safety wired in place to prevent the top from backing out. The metallic Indium seal is permanently crushed to seal the housing. Thus both internal seals could fail and the Bio-module would not leak, and conversely the Indium wire seal could fail and the O-Ring and polymer capsules would provide containment.

  8. Radiation measurement is accomplished by 2 small dosimeter strips and temperature extremes can be detected by thermal paint,
The LIFE experiment, exploded view
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The LIFE experiment, exploded view
Credit: The Planetary Society