Sample Return & Analysis

Extra-terrestrial material returned to Earth provide unparalleled insights into the history of our solar system.

SSTC scientists have worked on material recovered by every sample return mission of the modern era from the Moon (NASA’s Apollo, USSR’s Luna, CNSA’s Chang’e 5 and 6), asteroids (JAXA’s Hayabusa and Hayabusa II, and NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex), and cometary missions (NASA’s STARDUST). SSTC researchers are Mission Science Team members on planned missions (JAXA’s MMX to the Martian moon Phobos).

Enabled by the world-class facilities of the John de Laeter Centre, we can apply techniques including electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age dating, and Atom Probe tomography on single grain particles <100 micrometres across.