OSIRIS-REx Lab Organic and Inorganic Analyses Monitoring

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is recognized worldwide for its support to the exploration of space. An example of this support is the CSA’s contribution of the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) instrument to the asteroid sample return mission OSIRIS-REx. OSIRIS-REx is a NASA-led mission that returned a sample from asteroid Bennu to Earth in September 2023.

In return for Canada’s contribution of OLA, Canada will receive 4% by mass of the returned sample, marking Canada’s first samples returned from another solar system body and the 5th country in the world to have samples collected in space.

The CSA is now expanding its laboratory capacity to prepare for the arrival of its portion of the OSIRIS-REx sample. Specifically, CSA seeks to monitor particulate and air contamination in its laboratories This analysis must be comparable to NASA and JAXA, who also monitor contamination in their curation facilities using VPD-ICP-MS and TD-GD-MS analysis of silicon wafers and absorbent tubes.

Accordingly, the Canadian Space Agency requires a specialized service for monitoring organic and inorganic contamination in laboratories and clean rooms for the curation of astromaterials.

The Work will involve the following

1. Analysis of silicon wafers by vapour phase decomposition (VPD) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for trace metals; 2. Analysis of silicon wafers by thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) for organic compounds; and 3. Determination of organic in air by TD-GC-MS; The Contractor must ship a series of 200 mm diameter bare silicon wafers and the absorbent tube to the CSA. The CSA will leave the wafer and tubes in the environment for 24 hours, following the Contractor’s provided instructions. The CSA will then ship the analytical equipment to the Contractor for analysis by VPD-ICP-MS and TD-GD-MS. All sampling must be appropriate for monitoring contamination in a cleanroom environment of ISO 7 classification or cleaner. The trace metal analysis must include the following elements: Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Ge, Hf, In, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Sr, Ta, Ti, W, V, Y, Zn, and Zr. For both the passive and active monitoring of organics, the concentrations of organic compounds for the prepared wafers and absorbent tubes must be analyzed by TD-GC-MS, in addition the wafers for organic must follow the SEMI MF 1982-1103 Method-B procedure.

A sampling blank or control (transport blank) must be provided with the sampling kits. The Contractor must include any accessories required for sampling, such as stands and tweezer for the wafers or pumps for the absorbent tubes. The cleanrooms have strict material requirements.

Wafers and sampling absorbent tubes must be shipped in a manner that minimizes contaminants during transport allowing analysis of contamination in an extremely clean environment.